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HV 877 ...B6 1926 
Bogardus, Emory Stephen, 


1882- 
The city boy and his 





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a ye 
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RY Ur FAN? 
< 7D 
JAN 80 1929 c 


A 
Ay, Ww 
€OL agicaL SENS 









THE CITY BOY AND HIS 
PROBLEMS 


A Survey of Boy Lite 
in Los Angeles 


Sponsored and Financed by the 


Rotary Club of Los Angeles 


Directed and Report 
Written by 


EMORY S. BOGARDUS 


Social Research Director 


University of Southern California 


Copyright 1926 
Rotary Club of Los Angeles 


House of Ralston, Printers 
Los Angeles, California 


Foreword 


This report has been carefully read and studied 
by a Special Committee of the Los Angeles Council 
for the Promotion of Boys’ Work and has been 
amended in accordance with the recommendations 
of this Committee, who were: Martin S. Hauser, 
Rotary Club, Chairman: Dr: PP.) Barone.“Catholic 
Welfare Bureau; Captain George S. McClary, Crime 
Prevention Bureau, Los Angeles Police Depart- 
ment; E. B. DeGroot, Scout Executive of the Los 
Angeles District Council, Boy Scouts of America, 
and Harry F. Henderson, General Secretary, Y. M. 
Ceeih. | 


Charts and Maps Prepared under Direction of 
ERDESEO YOUNG 
Assistant Director, School of Social Welfare 
University of Southern California 


Graduate Research Staff: Edwin F. Bamford, 
Pauline V. Young, Willard A. Schurr, Parker L. 
Norton, Esther M. Thompson, N. Bradford Tren- 
ham. ‘Twelve other paid research workers, and 
three hundred and thirty volunteer participants. 
Margaret M. Burke, Executive Secretary, and: 
Dorothy G. Davis, Secretary. 


Table of Contents 


Page No 

Chapter. TSU eS tary Cy Coss nce eee he ae ae ’] 
DP SELISCOL'Y: | acco. chspckoceee sod teak cas coeds ae mee ee 7 
ZMeONLETHOdS eR WaeE Eko Sor eee te 8 
Oe CODE oe ee aie SLs a ec 10 
Chapter/ll={fhevBoy and. the Home si ee 13 
12 seUncontrolled’ Réemperi 15.2 ane te, tet Peres 15 

2. ,intlexiblesParentsie tay ce ee 16 
3. . Supervision peste ae nme, ANA Td eee ee ee 16 
4. ' Nagging | ei MD La Us Us eas eo 6 ae a 9 i 18 
eo MLTLIUStICe eomelents RING Heb RL Li DK WARM TEAL ee 18 
6 MOversolicitdus Parents si meee eet ao iene Oem 19 

7i- Problems of: Tmmigrante Parents. a2 ke. 2 ee 20 
MiSs Splttril Onmesn. agus tal ar 2 eee nah tae ee Rees 24 
9/2) LmmoraleGomdi tonsa seen eat wie nee ve 2 ae aia ee 24 
AOS OS Ores REL CAA TON ee hn re tee ae a oon ee 25 
ieorthe Over-priviiesed DOy ens 3 cates ee ee 26 
Ler HL OO “BUSY “hb at ClES. 62: eee es eee ee eee en 28 
aS0 Che Under-privilerédi Boye eee ee ee, Pee 30 
4.4) Rrivate Boarding? H ousesiieies ita ee 31 
15) Rooming (Houses Homes... 2.2 nere ee ee 32 
16.) Apartments: Flouse® .ELOmeSs gece kee 32 
17....Outside cAttractions: 25.522 2c ee 32 
18ie, WassniO ute de 2 eee awe emg ede, oe 33 
Chapter I1]—Thes Boy and 'thetScht0oll a a Tre a tee of 
ly) First? Adjustments (26 A ays 
Ze” Racial pPactorsck bet cccocaccteon sede cee eae 38 
3s “School Discipline saz aes ee ee 38 
4)>che Oversized “Schoahise. 6. se sri once ah nee 39 
oy he Reacher: ser eet Soca, RR OLS cite ae eek ee ee 40 
6° 'Sex. Tnstfictionie ticle fs os ee oe ait ae ee 43 
7.) Phe sSotial sPaceveree eS Suk ee ee Oa eae 44 
Oy ML EUATICY phase cee serch eee shake Ae ee cade peast as eh ace, 45 
Ono Lhe Specialise choolee sae et. ek ee oe 47 
10. “The “Military School cen ee 48 
ll. The Twenty-iour*Hour School.:..... 22. 2722 eee 49 
12. The Child Guidanéé/Clinics.3).22525 Bee 51 
13. SPart Time? Education../02. 22.6.0 te 51 
14. Training of Social Self Control ne, Character. ee. 52 
15. The Visiting Teacher and Social. Worker........................ 53 
ChaptetsiV-—sThe Boy. and:the. Churches. ee ee eee Reena ASS 55 
1. “Religion and ‘the, Boyes Homie ee ee 55 
Z: The Religious! Leadenand thes b0Vi4 se ee 56 
3, < Dhe“Recreation Papieere seat se en ee 59 
4: Motion« Pictures #ipetnes muro. ns. 60 
5.» Churehe Prograrrigeg rs 4 ON se eet oe een... ne ee 61 
6,’ Church” Polic¥-andmineas OV... e! : to a 65 
Chapter V—The Boy and» Leisure ‘Timen. ieee... ho... 67 
1; “BummingesAround: ek oe 2.2.0 68 

2° The-Antomobile 2.00.2 te”. 5 ee 69 
3.° The Runaway ‘Boy.s..2. 20.5... eee 76 


SEP NLOLIONPLACtULES@AMU cENe ‘BO Ycsiescoscssede.seztss -2nee: mec) as Ae 78 
pe une Mabarct.antdemubluc Danceerall.....0.:0.00- a ea 80 
6. Cheap Magazines, Newspapers, and so forth.................... 82 
PREBD ORI Weir on ee ee eo ks me), A ASS OM TD 85 
re SRE TOD CT) Serie hes hae ee eta sn are, ee uae 87 
Wee Vile Hee Ow amid: they Grane trv ls. tor Pee ee 89 
hI LG Se heg ys Coerar.. 2 ato Poor Sah 6 Rane ce a a a OR 90 
Dee Ne RIN wea ermnire da tory: Gale sit. neceiasielesssenct rete 91 
Sie Mee De becepey ies. 212 peel AEE Sa cima Sy, a) a lina tee ree 92 
ee rat OMe Mi Gwee ie meet ete | emt came ea le 93 
Da eIp OT dOOd WIN UISAT COmseh lo. eee sae a ae 93 
Ve Oe eemOiie vein DELS wanna wane eh eb capri eta 94 
PRREAT ATC yn ees ee eS Se 1 C2 Page ee ee A get, PDE Le 96 
rem QTL) (eet o spent eta Mad ten bs ee ee ea Tele ar 78 A} 96 
BP CTL) FA) tee peg tec ee ceed Osu gts ete eel canes SAS Co en Re ote 97 
L eee A TE te iO KIN Oem morte mene, te tae yey eNO 97 
BA Mee eS Leh 1 if enna ape eee Meenas Ce yea a) ESTED 98 
A PeCOCOLISELUCHON dees ran fake oe tae hee OE oe. So Ieee Oe 100 
Peer TFT COME See CTS OW rAILO a VV OL oct trident ec catect eo dgansttey uncer at ep detanahages 101 
POM SGERIVICSVV OL Kee ae tar carat Bate ree at eee ae 102 
Zee ee CWS DO Vee ire eee ees Pe a nya en Ae a 104 
WemNY Or haan Rateminouleiin.. sua hatte es eee ole | 107 
1h GM aver TENE U por each.” Shee eh oe RAP rm ee en cay Waa aol, i SAC 108 
Chapter VII1I—The Boy and Boys’ Welfare Agencies....00..........:0....-c--tescoseoee 110 
Wem tie Dis VCrOUNG ected men eee, Ge ee eee eee | See 110 
Be OY SCOURS Ei ieehs cylin new. yt tede yen eek ERea se eS Pe iss RE cn 113 
MONTE Maa Viste tT CRAIN «teed teens Stn, AUR ied ey Melee a Ww eh aL Mere 117 
ML eT OLN Ss ner Me en. ee awe Se gel le a 119 
SEE CH NetmehOVe “CIPO ani Za tiOns etme en weer eae ek: 120 
ye AROS ets EY ao en Dee IR ALE abate) eS a RL gene Ua iny E 122 
PAILS ACLOLSTI Ll) ede teec oe ek Poteet eres Te a ee ge PS ok 123 
Recto edt) ae ELOT AV GEC tte ee tee i Cree ee IZ 
Chapter IX—The Boy and the Juvenile Correctional Agencies...................... 127 
iy ER note a Frere one ee Beg aac tes vce ao a DSM a ee Fn eee L2z 
Pee NER ITVETIIICs COUT Chere tee ee pee ee ee ae 129 
DME RODatiOn ie: sicctecie oS te ee a Lael) Baul ee rae 
spay! ete ere] OF Le Conga Se Ue Ce Ave Comba sk ain APE ch 7 ee 134 
Seeol etnporaryrlomerand Other Neéds. 5.) ale $35 
Se retee ENS. HOV rand the Omit unity a: oe eh ee ee ees ee Cae Yee 140 
is The. Boy ax ee TIS, SOI TAS he GD RON SARE, AO RE AO 140 
ode LU Gay COTHINUSE IG Vine seen ett ede Macs nese a FoR oy, 3 Lan dads 142 
LISTLOF. CHARS 
Page No 
Prosieen mater of boys in. bos Angeles..c ccs pascatecstnce nce ke tba lassatdcanes ed 11 
emcee MOT COW POptiatiOn,..o:,..25---:0-a seers rn diis- oc chtossanheees bl eee 12 
eer Pe Or AMOR OVE ODUATION. 19) U.S. eeosee eed teceen tse esacessunbeie seeps oe 14 
Pere AICI VeOCUmOY OF ODiAation ..-cc-: 22 eee sen ci eget can lene 21 
Derreateme NN tt titer 1.0 Y Care. co ae le a hd el re a ie 23 
Pines uveniie ‘Otenders: Avainst, Propert yes let:ce.cstccsccasedeuckescdessaedecdeesaerscus 128 
Peerameion J). | UVvei en Outt-— DOYS (WV ard ince. oes teh akc cs cack cplcuenncaee dat en¥ebe betewe 130 


Peet SOECIA|) | CLM Lava aren N CCGEC. ....-02 tech. tes. Sno te. basJanpeeasnsteens sce 136 





The City Boy And His Problems 


CREer bes RST 


THE SURVEY 


This document is a description of the boy and his problems under 
conditions that are peculiarly representative of community life in many 
parts of the United States, for Los Angeles is a city community made 
up chiefly of individuals, and their descendants, from every important 
section of the United States. The aim has been to penetrate facts about 
boys to their meanings for boys and for all who work with boys. The 
accompanying materials are for public reading. If our Survey shows 
one thing above others, it is that the solution of the boy problem de- 
pends on everyone reading and thinking about boys, and trying to under- 
stand the worlds in which boys live.t 


Wigetlistory 


This study was inaugurated under the auspices of the Rotary Club 
of Los Angeles. In keeping with one of its fundamental principles, it 
has manifested an enthusiastic interest in the welfare of boys and 
young men, but it has felt that more basic work for boys should be 
done than has hitherto been attempted. In order to find out what 
these more far-reaching activities might be, a survey of the boy in 
Los Angeles was determined upon. At this point the writer was 
brought into the situation as research director, and a research 
organization was set up and work begun. 

The staff was recruited in part from persons who had had research 
experience in the Pacific Coast Race Relations Survey and partly from 
advanced research students from institutions such as the University of 
Chicago, the University of Washington, Oxford University (England), 
who were pursuing advanced work in the Department of Sociology at 
the University of Southern California. Secretarial and draftsman ser- 
vice was also employed. Volunteer workers were utilized for special 
projects. Altogether twenty-two paid workers and 330 volunteer per- 
sons have participated in the undertaking. The latter group included 
110 men who as boys’ work leaders and executives in the city occupy 
key positions; 140 boys who gave their life histories and thus threw 
direct personal light upon boys’ problems, and 80 young people from 
different parts of the city who helped in securing community back- 
ground data. 





1The materials given here form the basis for an analysis in abstract terms of social proc- 
esses and of the sociology of the boy, but this analysis will be reserved to a subsequent time. 


8 THE BOXING REE S CLT, 


While the Survey was going on, the Council for the Promotion 
of Boys’ Work was organized in Los Angeles. It now contains 
representatives of about. 55 leading organizations of business, civic 
educational, and religious nature in the city, and ranging in mem- 
bership up to 13 000. As soon as the Survey was completed, the 
Council took up this Report section by section and began work in 
conjunction with the Rotary Club and other organizations for those 
measures which its judgment dictated. 


This report has the scientific purpose of presenting data and 
their meanings, with the hope that all who are interested may have 
a chance to co- operate in deciding what ought to be done for boys. 
“Recommendations” are vitally the concern of everyone and need 
to be arrived at by as large a number of thoughtful people as pos- 
sible. In this way each person who helps in their formulation will 
feel that the recommendations are his and that he has a responsi- 
bility in putting them into effect. 


Il. MetTuHops 


- The validity of the results of any study is found in the methods 
that are used. The Boys’ Work Survey represents a combination 
of four major methods. 


1. The well-known statistical procedure was employed in ob- 
taining data concerning the numbers of boys in the city, the num- 
bers of school age, their location by districts, the races represented, 
the numbers in boys’ organizations, the numbers “filed on” by the 
police and in court, the types of offenses, and so on. These have 
been illustrated wherever possible by charts. ; 


2. ‘The community or environmental (ecological) method was 
used in studying the differences in the environmental conditions 
among boys in various parts of the city. Parents, teachers, social 
and boys’ welfare workers, all report themselves helpless at times 
in competition with underlying community forces, and hence, the 
importance of the study of the city by communities, both geo- 
graphic and racial. 


3. The historical method has been utilized in studying boys 
in their community and racial groupings. Trouble between 
parents and children or children and teachers often go back to “old 
country’ origins, and conflicts between boys and the community 
sometimes have roots in conflicting culture heritages. 


4. The social psychological method has helped to explain the 
nature and causes of conflicts between boys and their boy and adult 
associates. The boy in conflict with himself, with other boys, with 
“his day and age” may be understood in terms of his wishes and 
desires, and of the failures to make the proper mental adjustments. 

The study of the organized boy and of the processes whereby 
a boy has worked out adjustments between his desires and social 
standards is invaluable in understanding the disorganized boy and 
the boy habitually in conflict with some part of Bye ie Hence, the 


ELE SRY Ey 9 


“Life Histories” of 140 normal boys have been secured in terms of 
their early social life, their conflicts, adjustments, viewpoints, and 
of the personal experiences which account for these. 


Other boys who have been in open conflict with parents, 
school, church, or community have been interviewed by trained 
investigators for the purpose of getting a picture of “the boy’s 
world”, and particularly of the world of the boy in trouble. Parents, 
likewise, have been interviewed, both where the family has come 
through the strains of adjustment and where it has broken down; 
where boys have developed into loyal sons and where they have 
become delinquent and later, criminal. “Pictures” of “the parents’ 
world” where home conditions are “underprivileged”; where 
they are normal; and where they are “overprivileged” have been 
secured. ‘Teachers, boys’ welfare leaders, social workers, religious 
education directors, business men, physicians, psychiatrists have 
been interviewed in order that the nature of their experiences with 
boys might be studied. The purpose has been to get as complete 
a psychological picture as possible of the boy, of both the normal 
or the abnormal boy, as the case may be, from his own angle of 
experiences and thought, and in the hght of the experiences and 
thought of all who have had anything to do with him. No stone 
has been left uncovered in seeking every possible approach to 
the boy and his problems as seen and understood by himself and 
by his elders. 


Sixteen group conferences with as many different groups of 
boys’ welfare leaders in the city have been held. Scoutmasters, 
Y. M. C. A. boys’ secretaries and leaders, playground directors, 
special school principals, school attendance officers, Catholic boys’ 
workers, Jewish boys’ workers, colored boys’ workers, the juvenile 
police, policewomen, social workers, were among the groups repre- 
sented. Two group conferences were held with boys themselves. 
The problems of boys and of meeting boys’ needs were discussed 
at each of the sixteen group meetings. Often someone would finish 
his “testimony” by suddenly exclaiming, “Well, I’ve said too 
much.” 3 


Throughout, a confidential procedure has been followed. 
From the outset of the Survey, materials of the most personal and 
confidential nature have come in. Like medical research, social 
research builds on and observes the confidence imposed in it by 
those persons contributing experiences of a most personal and 
intimate nature. 


At the outset of the Survey a clipping bureau was established. 
Two newspapers, one morning and one evening, have been clipped 
-and the results classified. These have shown many interesting 
things that are happening to or about boys, ranging from offenses 
against property, persons and city ordinances to accidents and 
want ads. 


10 THE BOY UN ieee Ly, 


Altogether, about 2200 pages of typewritten original materials 
have been brought together. All the main sources of facts and 
their meanings have been drawn heavily upon, and the materials 
classified in their major divisions. These constitute the chapter 
headings of this Report. The data in each division were then 
classified into subdivisions. These were read once more and inter- 
pretations of each perpared.. The interpretations accompanied with 
the original materials are given in this Report, section by section, 
under their respective chapter divisions. 


~The method of presentation, therefore, is to let as many boys, 
parents, teachers, church workers, boys’ welfare workers, social 
workers as possible speak to the reader directly and personally. 
The writer of the Report has tried to interpose himself as little 
as possible. 

This Survey has not sought to prove or disprove this or that 
preconceived notion, but to find out what is and how it came to be 
in relation to the boy and his problems. Description “of what is” 
has been the plan followed in this Report; hence quotations from 
original and first-hand materials have been made freely. Boys, 
parents, teachers, boys’ welfare workers, and so on, are brought 
into this Report, each to give an account of his experiences, feel- 
ings, and thoughts in relation to the general theme. Sometimes 
a person has not understood the meaning of things, but be the 
case as it may, the Survey has sought out the most vital experi- 
ences and has presented these here in the light of the most 
accurate interpretations possible—for the reader to think about 
and to act upon. The quotations or excerpts often reflect opinions 
and as such give some idea of the prevailing state of public opinion. 


III. Scope 


This Survey has been confined to the city proper. The prob- 
lems involved in this extensive area have been so complicated as 
to forbid extending the Survey to the suburban and rural sub- 
divisions. Neither has it been possible to give much attention to 
settled districts immediately outside the city limits but socially 
though not politically a part of the city. The beach towns, despite 
their important role in the whole situation, have not been included. 
It has been thought that better results would be obtained if the 
Survey limited itself primarily to the older city limits than if it 
attempted to cover the whole metropolitan area. 


This study has also been limited to boys chiefly between twelve 
and sixteen years old, with the outer limits extending from eight 
or ten to eighteen and nineteen years. These years vary but 
extend roughly from ten or twelve to sixteen or eighteen. At the 
earlier limits the boy begins “to run with other boys” and at the 
upper limits he begins “to go” with the girls and hence to shift 
his interests. This “boy” period is one of physiological change, 
restlessness, and self-consciousness. It is not only the “ganging’”’ 


DHE SURVEY il 


age and the period of greatest physiological change, but one in 
which dissatisfactions at school and desires. “to work” may arise, 
in which marked reactions toward or against religion may occur, in 
which “bad” habits are acquired through gang associations, and 
in which conflicts with parents over money matters, the automo- 
bile, social affairs, may wax furious. At this time the urge for 


ESTIMATED 
AGE NVMBER 
OG Boys 





125 
G T1590 
af 72590 | 
& 6950 
eS) G5590 
Te) 6TOO 
ut 6600 
i2 6800 
13 6325 
14 6025 
15 56T5 
1S 6100 
iT G02 5 
1g 6625 
IS TI9G 
TOTAL 99000 THOVSANDS : ‘ 


THE BOY POPVLATION OF LOS ANGELES 


i925 
ESTIMATED FROM V.S. CENSVS 1920 


BOYS WORK SVRVEY i925 SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH LAB. V.S.C. 
CHART I 


There is considerable variation in the number of boys of given ages in Los Angeles. 
Boys from 13 to 17 years are relatively scarce. Further study. will probably show among 
other things that families are loathe to immigrate with adolescent children who have not yet 
finished their education. This. group produces an unusually large proportion of problem 
children. 


12 TH EB OWe UNS eC Y 


adventure surges high, the automobile is at hand, the gangs are 
setting the pace, and self-control is not developed. 

As shown in Chart 2, this Survey relates to about 100,000 
boys, of whom perhaps four per cent are in need of special atten- 
tion if we accept liberal age limits.. Moreover, the number is 
on the increase to the extent of about ten per cent each decade. 





300000 
GROWTH OF TOTAL POPVLATION): ae 
AND BOY POPVLATION | 
AGES 5 TO ISYEARS [Krad 
1890 TO 1925 (ee 
LOS ANGELES | ! 
| i 
gad 
bs 
| | 
| 
5716613 | | 
wed 
cal 
| ! : 
| 
ears 
eee! 
319198 | 
eal 
ok 
| | | 
| 
fa 
| 
4024 000 
24719 Y 
50395 
32918 
6457 
1899 1900 1910 ; 1920 1925 
BOYS WORK SVRVEY 1928 SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH LABORATORY V.S.C. 
CHART II 


Each decade since 1890 has seen approximately 100% increase in the boy population. 
For some years the city has been called upon to absorb from 5,000 to 10,000 ‘‘new’’ boys 
annually. This is a fundamental fact which all work with boys must take account of. 


THE HOME |, .13 


CHAPTER SLE 
The Boy and The Home 


ete esis: aan 


Nearly all our data show that large. numbers iy parents are 
failing in the training of boys and girls. Granting ° ‘good hered- 
itary stock,” the unfitness still exists. Taking the six out of seven 
marriages that do not end in divorce, the unfitness for parenthood 
still ranks high. 


“Parents don’t know how to raise children” is the statement 
of nearly all persons who work with “problem children.” (A study 
of problem children leads in a large percentage of cases to problem 
parents. And it is more difficult to train parents than to train 
children. ) 


With almost no specific training for parenthood, young people 
marry. Moreover, their personal experience in training children 
usually remains limited to a very few children and they never get 
out of the novice class. After a parent has had experience in raising 
a hundred children, or better, a thousand, he might be in a position 
to make some observations of comprehensive value—provided he 
‘ had regard for scientific thinking. 


While the broken home is ifso facto a failure, the “normal” 
home is, strange to say, frequently a failure in the proper training 
of children. It succeeds despite its blunders, not because it does 
not make any, 


Further, the raising of children in a city becomes more difficult 
as the complexity of the environment increases, and as: children 
become exposed to urban cross-currents at younger and more 
immature ages. Then, as city life becomes more and more speeded 
up and social changes occur with unreasoning rapidity, the social 
distance between parents and children, between the older and 
younger generation, grows apace. Hence, more and more serious 
misunderstandings and conflicts arise. 


Official records show that a wide variety of charges which are 
brought against parents. Improper supervision, irresponsible or 
no supervision, combination of no supervision and destructive home 
situation are found in outstanding degrees. [Lack of discipline and 
of sex education are prominent weaknesses. “These untoward con- 
ditions are found in overprivileged and underprivileged homes, in 
“split” and broken homes, in immigrant homes, and in boarding 
and institutional homes. The home is not always to blame, for 
the best homes report their disheartening struggles with “the out- 
side environment.” 


14 DHE BON ENS ABD EAASEL Y, 


oo 
Wi 
QO 2 
it 
Oo) vu 
3 


SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH LABORATORY V. SC, 


PERCENTAGE 
Sa RSS Ee eee ee Sie i ees 
PERCENTAGE OF BOYS IN TOTAL POPVLATION 
OF THE VNITED STATES AND IN NEW YORK 


® 
Ea 
v”) 
ul 
U 
< 
”) 
ul 
= 
i] 
oD) 
2 
<< 
Y) 
O 
a 
la. 
=) 
< 
O 
LU) 
a 
Y 
aa By. 
Uo 


STATES 
| BOYS WORK SVRVEY 


LOS ANGELES 9.8 


VNITED 





CHART III 


There are relatively fewer boys in Los Angeles than in the United 
States as a whole or in New York or Chicago. This is probably due to 
the large proportion of smaller-sized native American families and of 

“‘second-generation”” immigrant: families. Recently arrived large-sized 
immigrant families are more frequent in Eastern cities. Rural families 
also are larger than city families. 


THE HOME 15 


The theory of punishment and discipline still prevails as 
opposed to the newer theory of co-operation, welfare, and self- 
control. The movement is in the latter direction, but it 1s repre- 
sented so inefficiently that there is a widespread lack of under- 
standing and of appreciation of it. 


I. UNCONTROLLED TEMPER 


The adverse condition that stands out most commonly is 
improper supervision. Fathers who “get mad” when they disci- 
pline their children and mothers who lose their temper are common. 
They lose more than their temper —they also lose the respect of 
their children. Discipline is essential, but if it is not to be posi- 
tively harmful it must needs be given by the parent with his 
emotion of anger under control. Punishment of wrong conduct of 
the child is sometimes postponed until the parents’ patience is 
exhausted and then administered unmercifully. Ignorant and illit- 
erate parents fail frequently at this point. 


1. My mother used to hit me sometimes, but that’s because 
she got angry when I didn’t behave. (A boy.) 


2. Mother’s wonderful, but we’re both hot-tempered, and get 
into disagreements, which it takes time to get over. (A boy.) 


3. During the visit the little boy entertained himself pretty 
well, and when he got noisy the mother unceremoniously hit him 
over his back and ordered him out of the room. (A research 
worker.) | 


4. When you come around they always have a bunch of little 
ones around them, and they slap them over the faces, heads, backs. 
That’s the slapping kind. With a swing of her hand she knocks 
them down, and this is her form of control. (A social worker.) 


5. If it wasn’t for my father’s temper I would get along very 
well. He swears, curses, fights, throws anything at me. But I 
have a temper myself. I am trying hard to overcome it, but cannot 
succeed very fast. (A boy.) 


6. One trouble is, parents don’t know how to raise children. 
They are either too strict and the boy runs away, or else they let 
the boy yell at them and even beat them up. They let them throw 
things at them. It is no wonder then that if a revolver is lying 
around, that the boy sometimes picks it up and in his rage shoots. 
(A social worker.) 


7. At present the boy is severely abused by the father, who 
vents his temper, beats the boy and orders him out of the house. 
Two years ago the father threw Jack backward on the pavement, 
rendering the boy unconscious for a week. The father later bit- 
terly regretted his behavior and walked the floor at the hospital 
where the boy lay unconscious. (A research worker.) 


8. For about two years my father used to lick me nearly every 
night. I got used to his licking. Well, he would beat me because 


16 THE BOYOUN SESesGLLyY 


I did not stay home enough. Now he straps me whether I stay 
home or not, or because I go to shows. But I am used to the strap 
now, and a beating lasts only ten minutes and a movie show lasts 
for two hours, so | go to the show and take my beating. (A boy.) 

9. He is afraid of his father. Oh, he licks him pretty bad 
when he gets mad, but he doesn’t want to do it any more. My 
husband says it’s all my fault. When T was little I wouldn’t 
let him be spanked. When my husband goes after a boy he lands 
on him pretty hard and does not care where he strikes him, in 
the head, or on his back, or in the stomach. I always said, “You'll 
cripple. him; be careful’ where you strike? 7I. is more afraid 
of his father than of me. (A mother.) 








Il. INFLEXIBLE PARENTS 


The. amount of plain lack of understanding of a child by 
parents is surprising.. Parents forget that current situations have 
changed from those of their own childhood. They fail to put them- 
selves in the boy’s world. They look at the child through adult 
eyes only. The child usually perceives that the parent is mis- 
understanding him, while the parent remains blind to that fact. 

A widening breach between parent and son results from the 
misunderstanding of the latter by the former. Father and son often 
have neither occupational nor recreational interests in common. 
They live in different worlds. . 

10. Did I tell the folks about it? No—why worry them with 
it? They would not understand, and especially Mother would go 
straight up. Mother goes off the handle like that every so often, 
just because she don’t know how to take me, and I lose my balance. 
We don’t go out together much. (A boy.) 

11. The boy’s mother did not understand him. She could not 
see why he had certain desires. Her great fault was that she did 
not try to understand him. She would not listen to his explana- 
tions, consequently the boy felt a little bitter toward her. If she 
did not approve of his friends she would make it quite apparent. 
The boy soon stopped bringing his friends home. Instead he would 
be out around town with them. (A research worker.) 

12. He feels that he has been most misunderstood by his 
father. He feels that his father has forgotten the joys of boys, 
their likes and dislikes. “I don’t see why dad always objects when 
I want to go on a basketball trip; he didn’t go when he was 
young, because they didn’t have basketball, but if there had been, 
he would have gone.” This is one of the many assertions I have 
heard him make concerning his father’s unreasonableness. (A 
research worker.) 


III. Supervision Missinc 
Only one parent may be at home at any one time. Both may 
be home, but only one assumes parental responsibility. One or 
both may be chronically ill. They may be too busy with business, 


PIES OME Ly, 


committee work, or teas. Sheer neglect may obtain. Pure indif- 
ference is not uncommon. The manner in which many parents 
let their children “run wild” is often remarked. 


13. Then I have the indifferent kind, who don’t even care ‘to 
know how to raise their children. (A social worker.) 


14. Thirty per cent were from homes where both parents 
were living together but neglecting the boys. (A social worker.) 

15. The parents consider that they have fulfilled their obliga- 
tions if they look after the comfort and needs of their children, 
and give them the means of earning as much as possible. (A boys’ 
worker. ) 

Se Oo te OT example, I had a father say to me that his boy stays 
out until eleven o'clock and he blames the police for not sending 
the boy home. It doesn’t seem to occur to him that he has any 
responsibility regarding the boy. (A boys’ worker.) 


17. Some parents come here to get cured of asthma, bron: 
chitis, tuberculosis, and do not exercise any control over their 
children. Another type is the divorced parent who comes here to 
escape the effects of a divorce or separation, and their children are 
without proper supervision. (A social worker.) 


18. Recently a party for boys and girls was given in this 
neighborhood, at which there were no chaperones. The children 
were alone. In one room they were playing strip poker. In 
another, kissing games. ‘Their noise attracted the attention of the 
neighbors, who called the police. They did not arrest the chil- 
dren, because of the good standing of the parents, but turned them 
over to the city mother. (A teacher.) 

poor oN rs? C , across the street, certainly lets her boys run 
wild. I and B are left for hours at a time by the mother, 
who doesn’t seem to have any sense of responsibility. I guess that 
she isn’t well. She looks bedraggled. I have been over there 
when she has talked nastily in front of her boys, and it apparently 
is her usual method. Her boys sit out in an auto in front of the 
house whenever anyone drives up, and once I heard them call to 
the girl across the street to come over and stay with them all 
night. The girl is only eleven years old, but she laughed brazenly 
about it, showing that she is quite sophisticated. The girl will 
leave a group of girls any time to go and talk with these boys. 
That mother, those two boys, and this girl and her parents present 
a potentially delinquent situation. (A parent.) 

Oftentimes lack of co-operation and understanding between 
parents regarding methods of discipline and training creates prob- 
lem boys. Parents do not stand by each other, and the child is the 
victim. One is too strict; the other, too easy. The boy hating the 
one and taking advantage of the other, becomes a problem. 

20. The trouble is so many boys lose heart at home; the 
parents are wrangling and fussing all the time, and the boys become 
discouraged. (A boy.) 











18 DH ESB OWeItN get eo oY 


21. Another difficulty is that the father and mother often 
disagree regarding their boy. The result is that the boy takes 
advantage of the situation and obeys neither. (A teacher.) 


22. Many boys come from homes that in reality are broken. 
The parents are living together, but fight all the time. We shall 
never solve the boy problem until we solve the home problem. (A 
social worker.) 


IV. NaGcING 


Nagging is one of the chief evils that well-meaning parents 
perpetrate in dealing with their children. Sometimes it is to be 
accounted for on the basis of nervousness. Overburdened mothers 
are especially given to nagging. Unconsciously to himself the 
parent often speaks to his child in an aggravating tone of voice. 
The chief result is a state of aggravation and a dislike for his yap 
on the part of the child. 


23. I know that it is bad for me to go out with these guys, 
but what am I to do? They crab at me all the time at home, and 
there is no place else to go. (A boy.) 


24. Mother was not inclined to nag and scold at first, but she 
had so much to do and was so often so tired, gee: the habit did 
begin to grow on her. (A boy.) 


25. His mother razzed him so much that he did not care what 
he did; he developed an inferiority complex. He knew what was 
right but had no incentive to do it. (A teacher.) 


26. The mother always meant well and she loved her husband 
and children dearly. She understood young children and was a good 
mother: to them, but when the children grew older she seemed to 
lack tact in handling them, always stirring them up and scolding 
them instead of gaining their confidence. The mother’s actions 
had a reaction on the boy. He resented her continual nagging and 
her inability to see his viewpoint. (A research worker.) 


V. INJUSTICE COMPLEXES 


Lack of understanding of the child’s point of view leads to his 
belief that he is being treated unfairly. Unfortunately, the child’s 
sense of being treated unjustly is usually not sensed by the parent. 
but if it is, the child receives further condemnation instead of 
having that feeling removed. One single experience of this kind 
may result in a lifelong injustice “complex.” 

Sometimes the boy’s sense of experience arises from “being 
bawled out” in the presence of his friends. Again, a child may be 
punished for an offense he did not commit, but rather than “tell on” 
the guilty party, moodily takes the punishment. Overstrict control 
is resented strongly. 

A father’s choice of a second wife and thus of a stepmother for 
his children is often made without much real consideration for the 


“THE HOME « | 19 


problems of personality, adjustment between stepmother and the 
children. A boy:just reaching his ‘“‘teens’” feels that he has been 
wronged if his father brings home a stepmother without previously 
being taken into the confidence of the father. 


27. My father is always bawling me out. I admit that I need 
it, and also that he does it because of his great interest in me. I 
-know that he knows best, but I suppose I am strong-headed and 
wish to have my own way most. I do what my mother wishes 
more often than what my father wishes. I put aside my own 
wants when she expresses a desire. (A boy.) 


28. The most severe punishment received was brought on 
because the boy, in sheer desperation for some adventure and 
recreation, left home early one day, not to return until late at 
night, after a walk of many miles. This punishment has always 
been resented. (A boy.) 


29. I remember one real injustice which my father did me. 
Next door, in the back yard, was a large tool box, which was locked 
with a padlock. My father saw me come over to our house with 
a padlock in my hands. Without stopping to see whether the box 
still had a padlock, or even to question me very much as to where 
I got it, he gave me a sound thrashing. I remember how terrible 
I felt toward him at the time. The reason for my feeling so badly 
was that the little girl next door had given me a stray padlock 
which she had evidently found in the house. (A boy.) 


30. I have often felt as though my father did one thing which 
was unjust to me. About six months after my mother’s death 
my father began to bestow affections upon a nurse whom he had 
-met when my mother was sick. I heard of this one year after my 
mother’s death, when my father announced to me that I should 
have everything in preparedness for my stepmother. I do believe 
this was one of the biggest shocks I have ever had, and I felt 
terrible about it. It seemed as though my father was giving to 
me that which I did not feel like accepting. I loved my mother, 
and I wanted no one to fill her place so soon. But as this had hap- 
pened, I prepared for her, and indeed I felt pessimistic, but I had 
never met the woman who was going to be my mother. The out- 
come was not as good as could be expected, for I didn’t exactly 
care for her, and consequently we didn’t get along the best possible. 
Things seemed so different, she seemed strange, and I[ didn’t 
want her to be my mother, for as yet I felt no one her equal. Dad 
had never even asked us what we thought of it, he never brought 
her to the house prior to their marriage, so you can readily see 
why we were somewhat distant. (A boy.) 


VI. OveERSOLICITOUS. PARENTS 


Strange to say, the over-solicitous parent sometimes creates 
unnecessary problems for his children and hence for himself. He 
rarely understands how it is that he may do his child great damage. 


20 TILE BOM Nee CLE Ys 


‘ Sometimes the product is ‘“‘a spoiled child,” a disobedient son, or 
even perchance a worthless rascal. 


If life 1s made too easy, at an early age the child learns “to 
work his parents,” and develops many ways for playing upon his | 
parents’ interest in him and for taking advantage of them. The 
reasons for this unusual measure of solicitation are many: a great 
loss diverts love to a child; a mother not loving her husband con- 
~centrates her love on a son; a puny child may draw forth unusual 
sympathy, and so on. 


31. When there is no love in marriage, the parents put all 
their love and attention on the children and then they spoil them. 
(A social worker.) 


32. It’s nice to_have girls, but the boys are more valuable, 
and when parents are proud of the boy he is likely to develop a 
sense of superiority. (A research. worker.) 


33. This is very typical of the fond parent who is very. likely 
to become overindulgent, emotional, and make his child the center 
of attention while still very young. The child is likely to become 
overbearing, somewhat emotionally unstable, and thus the prob- 
lem of control very often arises. (A research worker.) 


34. Still another boy, seventeen years old, is just like a four- 
teen year-old. He has the most beautiful baby stare you ever saw. 
His father died, and the mother poured all of her love for both father 
and son into the one, and could never tell the dear fellow no. She 
babied him along until he is a baby even today. He has never been 
punished by his mother, but has used her more as a door mat. 
In this case some real man could talk to the boy and do some good. 
(A teacher.) 


VII. PrRoBLEMS OF IMMIGRANT PARENTS 


The native American who loudly declaims against the immi- 
grant rarely realizes the nature and extent of the problems immi- 
grant parents face in rearing their children in a new language and 
culture environment. The very land which the immigrant parents 
look forward to as giving their children opportunities they did not 
have, steals these children from them, and they spend their last 
years in pathetic isolation from their own children. 


Immigrant parents are helpless before their children’s rising 
tide of knowledge of the American's language and amusements. 
No one is likely to come to them and help them translate their 
racial traditions into terms of American life, or to interpret Ameri- 
can life to them. The boy turns against his parents because from 
his American viewpoint they are “old fogies.” 


35. My parents don’t know anything. I am under no obliga- 
tion to them, and why should I submit to ignorant authority? 


(A boy.) 


THE HOME 21 


36.. The parents cannot keep up with the pace. They have 
language difficulties; the boys are getting too smart for them and 
they are frequently fooled. (A research worker.) 

37. One of the troubles is that the boys are able to do things 
so much better in high school, and even in junior high school than 


SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH LABORATORY V.S.c. 


AGES 5 TO 19 YEARS 
LOS ANGELES 
1920 


EZ 
a 
sot 

wi 
gs 
= 8 
Fol 
2> 
O 
oe) 


6467 
15514 | 


us 


NATIVE WHITE 
NATIVE PARENTAGE 
NATIVE WHITE 
FOREIGN DARENTAGE 
NATIVE WHITE 
MIXED PARENTAGE 
FOREIGN BORN 

WHITE 
INDIAN, CHINESE, 
JAPANESE 4 OTHERS 
BOYSWORK SVRVEY 





CHART IV 


22 THE BOYe INGLE CITY. 


their parents. They feel so much more efficient and hence cease to 
show parental respect. (A teacher.) 

38. Nearly every Jewish home has a car, even among the 
poorer people, where they have second-hand Fords, but these tend 
to separate the children from their parents. And there is the movie 
which also creates a disrespect for parental authority. The Jewish 
parent is very much up against it from eae! angle of contact. 
(A social worker.) 

39. Our greatest problem with boys is in connection with 
conflicts in the homes between parents and their children. Parents 
have their European ways so definitely ingrained that they cannot 
change a great deal. The boys are getting American ways very 
definitely and hence there is an uncrossable chasm for which there 
is not much solution. Differences in the home begin with the 
language. (A social worker.) 

40. You cannot avoid a bridge between an American-born son 
and an immigrant father. When the boy comes back from school 
in his bright sweater with a big letter wn it, and rough pants, and an 
American cap, he looks like a wild Indian to his parents. At school 
he is a hero. The parents shrink from his appearance and at school 
he is just the thing. The boy does not understand inconsistencies. 
(A social worker.) 

41. He is the first in the home to represent American democ- 
racy to his parents. He is looked upon with pride by the family. 
He becomes a conscious and self-important element in his home, 
and the training of the home is reversed. He will take no orders 
from his “ignorant” parents, who lose complete control over him. 
If he helps out financially he feels still more independent. He 
makes rapid strides learning the desirable as well as the undesir- 
able. The interests of the boy and the parents grow far apart, 
and they are strangers within the same home. (A research worker.) 

42. And when the boy leaves school he has to run around to 
find work. Goes downtown and thinks he is a master. In Europe 
these kids work on the farms for their father, and he supplies them 
with what they need. Here they decide for themselves, and most 
of the time decide wrong. How do you suppose we feel when the 
Juvenile Court officer comes around? I am ashamed; 1 am vexed 
and troubled. As long as they are small there is no trouble, but 
as soon as they are old enough to make friends and run around 
with gangs, then they quit minding their parents, and the trouble 
begins. They have learned to complain to officials when they are 
severely punished, and what can you do? Very few people under- 
stand us and take an interest in our troubles. (A parent.) 

43. The boy is usually the first one to learn American ideals, 
and he brings them into the home, where they are adopted and 
practiced. The boy thus becomes the dominant element in the 
home, and pretty soon the parents lose control over him. With 
the adoption of American ways the religion of their forefathers 
disappears, and the families who have broken away from religion 


THE HOME 23 


have a problem in controlling the boys. That has come under our 
attention time and time again. The process of Americanization is 
so rapid that it upsets the equilibrium of the boy and the home, 
without any satisfactory substitute. They become too American- 
ized and sacrifice the established customs, and this situation really 
creates the whole problem. (A research worker.) 


NATIVITY OF BOY POPVLATION 
BY PERCENTAGE DISTRIBVTION 
AGES S5TOISYEARS 
LOS ANGELES 
1920 


NATIVE WHITE 
NATIVE PARENTAGE 54.5% 


FOREIGN BORN 
WHITE 9.8% NATIVE WHITE 
FOREIGN. PARENTAGE 10.6% / 


NATIVE WHITE 


MIXED PARENTAGE 
5% 


@ INDIAW. CHINESE, JAPANESE, 
AND ALL OTHERS 


BOYS WORK SVRVEY SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH LABORATORY V.5.C. 
CHART V 


Less than 10% of the boys in Los Angeles are foreign born white. 
More than 85% are native-born, of whom less than 20% have both 
parents foreign-born. This situation is unusual for metropolitan cities 
in America. 





24 © (DM BBO aCN Earn Y 


VII. SpLrr- es Homes 


The “split”? home ranks high as an explanatory factor among 
misbehavior boys. Lack of interest in the boy by the step-parent 
or an absolute clashing of the personalities of step-parent and the 
boy due to jealousy, lack of sympathy, different backgrounds, and 
so on, are common phases of these unhappy situations. 


44. His mother and father are separated. This seems to hurt 
the boy a great deal. He had great difficulty in even speaking of it 
without breaking down. He wants to go back Osea hens as 
research worker.) 


45. My father, whom I have not seen in years, is some kind 
of manager in the Bethieuen Steel Works. That is all I know of 
fins | do not know just what my stepfather’s business is. You 
see, when he comes home I am interested in other things and do 
not talk to him very much. (A boy.) 


46. My family life has not always been the happiest. Mother 
married again when I was four years old, in order that she might 
have a home for me and give me the right environment. My step- 
father was jealous and narrow-minded, and the result has been 
that there have been many quarrels and misunderstandings con- 
cerning me. (A boy.) 


LX. Im™MoRAL CONDITIONS 


When inadequate supervision is accompanied by destructive 
moral conditions, the child does not have much chance. That he 
ever turns out well is a miracle. 


Sometimes deceit is practiced by the mother in the presence of 
her son. Again, the father may lie over the telephone at home. 
Table talk may include boastful attitudes toward “getting around 
the law.” Lax sex conditions may obtain, especially where over- 
crowding and ignorance exists. Profane language may be hurled 
by one parent at the other without regard to its influence on the 
children. 


47. The mother’s morality is questioned. I am advised that 
her actions are questionable and conditions generally unstable. 
Mother shows positive Wasserman test. (A social worker.) 


48. Here is a boy whose father-is in jail for being drunk, 
and his mother is in jail for having slashed her neighbor over the 
fence. What can you expect of the boy? (A boys’ worker.) 


49. Say, they shut me up in Juvenile tall for nothing. I 
never did a thing. How'd that happen? Well, they sent my 
mother to jail, and my father is in Chicago. I didn’t have no home, 
(A social worker.) 

50. Some of my boys come from homes where parents stage 
wild parties in their homes. The children, thirteen or fourteen and 
over, are in these, and how can you expect them to do differently ? 
(A boys’ worker.) 


CELE HOME Za 


51. And the worst of it is that a lot of these children are just 
poor, unfortunate children we've had to pick up because the mother 
is drunk or immoral or sick and sent to the hospital or taken to 
jail, and maybe the father has deserted them, and maybe they are 
divorced or dead, and so on. (A police worker.) 


52. He does not look like his mother at all. She is in. good 
health, and able-bodied, but she seldom works. She has numerous 
“gentlemen friends,’ several of whom are very attentive. All indi- 
cations point to the fact that she is a woman of questionable char- 
acter, although she is not “flashy” in dress or general appearance. 
(A teacher.) 


53. As I handed her my card I remarked that I wanted “to 
get a little information about A in order to help him out,” and 
she promptly collapsed into a convenient chair with a sobbing yell 
of “My God, what in hell’s he up to now?” As with A Sit LOOK 
some little time to convince: her that while I did represent the 
force of the law, I was primarily interested in getting the co-op- 
eration of herself and her friends in order that they might make 
amends for this scrape and keep out of trouble in the future. After 
awhile she stopped her crying, took off her hat and coat, turned on 
the gas heater, and settled down both physically and mentally to 
talk the thing out. (A research worker.) 


54. You see, when a boy is knocked around the world as much 
as | am he can’t have any health. My mother committed suicide 
when I was three months old and my sister about five years old. 
Both my father and mother were on the stage. I understand that 
my mother committed suicide chiefly because of the treatment she 
got from my father. He died shortly afterwards, and I was put in 
an orphan home when I was but one year old. (A boy.) 








X. SEX EDUCATION 
Only a small percentage of parents appreciate the importance 
of giving their children scientific sex education. A still smaller 
percentage, appreciating the need, really understand how and when 
to give this education. Some begin too late; others bungle the task. 


The best authorities agree that sex education is the duty of 
the parent above all other persons. It is also clear that it should be 
given naturally at a pre-puberty age of the child when he asks sex 
questions. Thus, when sex comes to have a directly personal mean- 
ing, it is not necessary for him to ask embarrassing questions; 
neither is he likely to be fascinated by the coarse sex talk of other 
boys, but rather to find that talk repulsive. 


55. Lack of obedience to parents by the average American 
boy is the big problem. Parents simply don’t chum with the boy, 
and hence the father doesn’t know how to discuss sex questions 
with the boy.. (A research worker.) 


56. Sex teaching? A reasonable amount taught early and 
scientifically—then forgotten until his own experience of life calls 


26 DHE BOYOUN DEC GE Y 


it again to life. He should be taught not to over-estimate the place 
of sex in life. It should become an incident in an amazing whole 
of life. (A teacher.) 


57. Sex knocks boys first. They’re taught sex too late. They 
get the wrong kind, too—from other boys. Yes, but they don't 
get the right kind. You see, here’s the trouble. My dad never 
talked to me about it, and my mother never talked to me about it. 
I’m never told about it. I’m thrown on the street when I’m 
twelve years old. All I see is filth. That’s all I see in a girl until 
all of a sudden we had the subject in the course of biology. I had 
it when I was a sophomore, but it was too late then. Before I had 
biology, I thought I knew it all, but I knew just the rotten part, 
that’s all. (A boy.) 


XI. ‘THE OVERPRIVILEGED Boy 


The conditions surrounding children that become special prob- | 
lem cases are often those of overprivilege or of underprivilege. 
The overprivileged boy feels himself superior to authority, and 
his parents often have too great a sense of pride to seek help until 
it is too late. Overprivileged parents are likely to allow their chil- 
dren in their earliest’ years to get away from parental control. 
They “make so much over” the child; they think he is “so cute,” 
and so cater to his every whim, that he becomes “spoiled” before 
they wake up to the real situation that they have brought on them- 
selves. Oftentimes it is the wealthy parent who, because he started 
poor, concludes that his son shall not suffer the hardships that 
came to him, without realizing that the opposite extreme means 
overindulgence and misbehavior. 


The “busy business man” comes in for a full share of short- 
sightedness in training his sons. He is so busy with acquiring 
control over material things that he may fail in his control over 
spiritual things, particularly with reference to his own boys. The 
Survey data repeatedly refer to this situation as most serious. To 
save the situation, an hour a day taken by the business man from 
his business and given to his boy would work wonders, providing 
the hour were spent in wholesome work and recreation together. 
The business man who writes letters to his boy and receives letters 
in return from the boy realizes keenly the problem, and also the 
difficulties of raising children by correspondence. 


The six-foot father who reports his inability to do anything 
with his six-year-old son, because the latter won’t mind, illustrates 
a common type of parent of the overprivileged child. The mother 
who goes into court and swears that this is her son’s first offense 
and that he has always been “such a good boy,” but who is lying to 
the court in the presence of the boy, loses what respect her son 
may have for her. As soon as the boy is released, he may commit 
a still greater offense. 


THE HOME 27 


58. My mother wishes that I should marry wealth, but if I 
marry I do not intend to marry for money, as I would rather have 
happiness. (A boy.) 

59. I have talked to about forty dads this week, and almost 
all of them told me that they were sorry that they did not have 
time to be with their boys. (A boys’ worker.) 


60. I started to work when I was seven years old, and I made 
up my mind that my children would have more education and 
pleasure than I got out of life. Did I ever dream that my son 
would turn out that way? (A father.) 


61. All their parents seem to think of is making money. Most 
of these young folks have too easy a time. They have never had 
anything to make them serious; I think their parents are partly to 
blame, the way they bring them up. (A teacher.) 


62. We have many cases come into the office that are brought 
in by the mothers; they can’t handle them. The trouble is, the 
parents wait until the children are ten or twelve years old before 
they begin to administer discipline, and then the children won't 
accept it. (A social worker.) 


63. His father was living at home nights, but left the raising 
of the boy to his mother. He furnished his boy with an auto- 
mobile, but none of his real life went out into the boy’s life. The 
kid drove his car always at full speed, as he was driving his life. 
(A boys’ worker.) 


64. For instance, a father—a great big man—came blustering 
into the office one day, dragging in his six-year-old child. He 
“jammed” the child down on the floor and blustered out: “What 
am I going to do with this kid? I can’t handle him.” I asked him 
~ how old the child was, and he said, “Six.” (A boys’ worker.) 


65. The boys always expect to be the recipients, however, and 
they do little for themselves. They do not obey their mothers, 
they expect to be supported until they are twenty-one years old. 
They are defiant; they have been babied so long and nursed in 
imaginary sickness that they are badly spoiled. (A social worker.) 


66. I wish that my father were not quite so much all business. 
He is hard to approach at times. Lately, however, we have been 
getting closer together, especially since I have been out of school, 
and this last week we are more like chums than father and son. I 
certainly appreciate it, but I just wish that this chumminess had 
come when I was younger. I certainly hope that when I become a 
father that I will not have forgotten my own desires for a friend 
such as a father can be. (A boy.) 


67. He had been gone from home two days and two nights, and 
neither his father nor mother had missed him. His mother was out 
of town on a visit, and his father was engaged in putting over some 
important business deals. Each day he had left early in the morn- 
ing and had not arrived at home till late. He was too busy to be 


28 LOE BO YoONe Derr lay, 


bothered by the boy’s governess, who thought that she could locate 
the boy and get him home without troubling his parents about him. 
(A research worker.) 


68. It is hard to do much with these children, for they have 
everything. What children on the East Side would enjoy and 
appreciate, these children take as a matter of course. Many of 
them have everything that their hearts can desire, lots of them 
have autos, and that makes it hard to get them interested in our 
work. A recreation leader’s job is no snap here. (A playground 
director.) . 


69. He called attention to the lack of emphasis placed on 
home life by Americans, pointing out that we are a “moneytheistic” 
rather than a monotheistic people now. He suggested that men, | 
especially, have a tendency to forget all about the home as soon 
as they leave it in the morning, and that they give their time 
and effort mainly to their business, giving it the foremost place 
in their thoughts. He stated that we have reached a place in this 
country where business, pleasure, and all other interests, are placed 
first before the home, intimating that we shall never solve these 
problems of juvenile delinquency until we reverse this order of 
emphasis. (A pastor.) 


70. I was at a tough game, selling newspapers. I did not 
want my boy to go through life that way. I never wanted my son 
to work. [I am not rich, but I am very comfortable and own con- 
siderable property. I realize now that I made a mistake, always 
handing out money to him. He never saw me working. He does 
not realize how hard I had to work to earn the money, how much 
responsibility I carry. The money he gets from me has no value 
to him except that it can buy the things he needs. (A father.) 


71. Too many fellows have a machine too early; then the 
allowance is too large. Whenever we get a fellow we can’t do 
much with, who is always playing hookey and getting into trouble, 
we ask his parents to take his car away from him. If this does 
not bring the desired results, we ask them to cut down on his 
allowance. Generally this produces the right results, but fre- 
quently the fellow gets tired of such treatment and takes French 
leave. After he has been gone several days we get word from his 
parents that he is gone. (A teacher.) 


XII. ‘“Too Busy” PARENTS 


Wealth and money-making are not the only factors which keep 
parents so busy that they neglect their children. Fraternal organ- 
izations, social affairs» such as tea and card parties, professional 
interests, also create “too busy” parents. 


Again, it is the teaching profession, the exacting demands of 
the ministry, the pressing social obligations of a “normal” life in a 
large city, that lead parents into what may amount to a criminal 


THE HOME . 29 


neglect of their children. The parents’ unawareness, or if aware, 
their feeling of seeming helplessness is noticeable. 

72. I never had the friendship of a father, as he was too busy 
with the church. (A boy.) 

73. It has been some years since I have been able to asso- 
ciate with my boy much. Even ten years ago, about the only time 
that I saw my boy was before he got out of bed in the morning. 
Most of our talks were at his bedside. (A father.) 

74. I have seen little of my parents, as they were usually not 
at home evenings. They both belong to a great many orders and 
organizations; so they have been busy with those in the evenings, 
(A boy.) ! 

75. One of the greatest shocks that my father had, came about 
four years ago, when my brother wrote home to him and said, “The 
greatest thing I regret in life is that when I was a boy at home, 
that you didn’t have any time for me.” This nearly broke up my 
father. You know, he is a teacher, and it hurt him beyond words 
to think that he had been so busy with other people’s boys that 
he had neglected his own. (A young woman.) 

76. Many fathers are not interested in their boys; many more 
do not really have the time to talk to their boys, and so it is up 
to the school to help them. I do not have much time to be with 
my own boys, but know those here at school almost better than I 
know my own. I am more fortunately situated than most parents. 
(A father.) 

77. \ama lucky fellow to have such wonderful parents, They 
both seem to understand me. Although I have no reason for liking 
one better than the other, my liking seems to tend to lean toward 
my mother. Perhaps it is because I realize that she is the one 
who really had to do most of the sacrificing to make me what I 
am today. Perhaps it is because I never really had a chance to 
learn the more intimate side of my father. (A boy.) 7 

78. Father used to let me have about my own way—mother is 
a sickly lady who never weighed over 100 pounds in her life. 
Father is interested in lodges, all of them. He was Grand Master 
once, and mother has been—of the Eastern Star. Father is in 
the Oddfellows, Elks, Masons, and about everything. He does 
not have a great deal of time for anything much for me. I always 
thought that I could get by with anything. (A boy.) 

79. I find life so artificial. The whole thing is to make a 
showing, to put up a front. They are talking about giving their. 
children dancing lessons, so that they can keep up with someone 
else’s children, and buying new clothes for their children, and 
buying a newer or bigger automobile. There isn’t one of them who 
seems to find time to spend half an hour with their children. A 
mother with not even thirty minutes a day to spend with her 
children! They dump them into bed, or hire somebody else to do it. 
Religion doesn’t seem to have any place in the parents’ ideas of 
caring for their children. (A parent.) 


30 | THE BOY IN THE CITY 


XIII. THE UNDERPRIVILEGED Boy 


The underprivileged boy also suffers from too busy parents. 
They leave in the morning before the boy does, and so he may not 
get started to school on time and becomes a truant. They return 
after he does in the afternoon, giving him ample opportunity to 
play without supervision and to drift into mischief. They are 
unable to encourage, much less to aid, their children with lessons 
or “home work.” Their children suffer for lack of hygienic train- 
ing, of proper sex education, of moral supervision. Adequate 
vocational guidance is missing. Their children see only tired 
parents. The handicaps are serious beyond description. The 
results are boys that steal, gamble, smoke, that are incorrigible, 
and sexually delinquent. 

80. I found them living in a miserable shack and “eating off 
the shelf.” The boy hardly ever had a cooked meal, and had very . 
little supervision from his father. (A social worker.) 


81. Children virtually live on the streets during the day, 
because their parents work, and at night because their homes are 
too small, crowded and cheerless to compete with the motion 
picture houses and dance halls. (A research worker.) 


82. We have a truancy problem due to lack of parental super- 
vision. The parents leave home before the boy does, and some- 
times he’ll come to school and sometimes he’ll choose to stay home 
or go to work. (A teacher.) 

83. We hurry our lives out to earn as much as possible during 
the day; when we come home we try to raise our children, but 
they are without orders all day, and they get out of the habit of 
receiving them. We get tired and are glad when they get out of 
the house. (A parent.) 

You would not house your car in places that many of 
these people live. You even have a better place for your dog to 
sleep. The school, the cafeteria, are fine in comparison. The 
Junior High Schools are palaces when compared with the homes 
where, in many cases, the boy finds simply the same old nag, nag, 
nag. We need to educate the parents. (A boys’ worker.) 


85. Such poor homes and large families demand that the boy 
leave school early and go to work. One boy was in here the first 
of the week, telling me that he had to stop. His father was dead, 
and his mother was a janitress, getting less than a hundred dollars 
a month and with seven children to support. How she does it, f 
can't see. (A boys’ leader.) , 


86. The greatest trouble is that after school hours there is 
“nobody home” for the boy. Father is away, of course, and the 
mother is either working for wages or else at her clubs and tea 
parties. I say there’s nobody home for the boy. There is no one 
to correct him after school hours. When he gets away from the 
restraint of the school he tends to go to the other extreme, and 
there’s no one to look after him. (A boys’ worker.) 


THE HOME So 


87. Both surely were hard boiled. I could not blame them for 
it, though. I found out that their mother was dead, and these two 
boys lived with their father in a single room, eating, cooking and 
sleeping all in the-same room. ‘The father worked, and at times 
was on the day shift and then on the night shift, and the kids 
grew wild. I went and talked to the father, but he could not do 
anything about it. (A boys’ worker.) 


A very large percentage of the people in this district are 
working; in at least seventy per cent of the homes both father 
and mother work, and I think that estimate is conservative, too. 
What kind of boys can we expect to come from homes where 
they get no care? We can’t blame the parents nor the boys if 
they go wrong. Too much of the family’s income goes for rent. 
But let us look closer into the homes where both parents are work- 
ing. Many of the mothers are afraid to leave the children in the 
house for fear that they will set it on fire. They leave them outside 
to play, or tell them to go over to the neighbors, and tell them 
to amuse themselves and not get into mischief. Now you know 
that is impossible, boys will be boys. There is no playground in 
this district. We tried hard to get one in here, but they told us 
that the land was too high, and nothing was done about it. (A 
boys’ worker.) 


XIV. PriIvATeE Boarpinc Houses 


The private boarding homes are often run to get a little money, 
not with the genuine idea of training children. Ignorance and lack 
of real parental concern are all too common. Boys that are put in 
private boarding homes often are special behavior problems, but 
are not likely to receive the specific treatment.and care they need. 


88. Many private boarding homes are failing. Some people 
are here without anything to do, and so they set up a private home 
and get a boy or a girl or two. The operators don’t have any idea 
how to run a home, either economically or from a point of being 
foster parents. (A social worker.) 


89. I locate many of them in homes. Some of these people 
are socially minded and want to help the boys, others do it for the * 
money. For each boy they are given $25 a month by the county. 
Those wanting boys apply to the board, and their application is 
passed upon and the number they can take is set by the board. 
Then I go out and look over the home, and get a line on the disci- 
pline in the home, see how the mother corrects her children, get a 
look at her attitude and temperament, and then try to match that 
home with the type of boy who will fit into the surroundings and 
temperament. Some of these homes are very good, but many of 
them are not very satisfactory. I have fifteen homes with one or 
more boys in them, and ten others here waiting for boys, but only 
one of these twenty-five is really a discipline home, and that is 
exactly the type that is needed most of all. (A boys’ worker.) 


32 EE B Oe DN wit ee Co any 


XV. Roominc House “Homes” 


The rooming house districts furnish a poor environment for 
boys and girls. Attractive home conditions rarely exist. The boy, 
generally, is in the way, and is literally driven out into the alley or 
street. Modern industry in its role of squeezing homes against 
alleys and into squalor 1s paying a tremendous price for its success. 
Rising land values and decreasing child values are found together 
in the modern industrial districts. Predatory boys’ gangs flourish, 
while rentals soar and overcrowding destroys living. 


90. ‘There, the shops are right in the home or right close to 
it, and the mother generally helps the father in the shop, and 
the boys run the streets all day, not even getting anything to eat 
at home for the evening meal at times, just breakfast in the morning 
with the family. (A boys’ worker.) 


91. So many of the houses are mere shacks and not fit for 
people to live in at all. The reason for this is that the railroads 
are expecting, soon, to buy much of this property; consequently 
the people who own the property simply put up temporary shacks 
that are good places for rats to live but certainly no place for 
human beings. Such places as this are good places for disease to 
breed. The rents that they charge are simply unreasonable, too. 
(A social worker.) 


XVI. APARTMENT House HoMeEs 


Flat and even apartment house districts are also unfavorable 
to normal child training. Renting prevails; home conditions are 
makeshift; boys are “noisy and in the way.” Parents with three 
husky boys are turned away from door to door, but bulldogs are 
welcomed. 


92. In this apartment house section around here we have a 
very much more difficult problem than in sections wherein the 
people own their own homes. No one ever comes here to buy a 
home. Nine families out of ten are renting, and that brings on an 
added problem, for they are constantly moving about. In the 
spring so many families are moving that we lose at least half of 
our Sunday school. There is far less delinquency in sections where 
families own their own homes. That is our big problem. There is 
no real home life. (A religious education worker.) 


XVII. OvursipE ATTRACTIONS 


The boy spends a decreasing amount of time under the influ- 
ence of the home. The disintegration of even “the normal home” 
as a functioning unit in child training is going on. Coupled with 
this tendency is the opposite one of increasing attractions outside 
the home, which make parents helpless, 


Home is reported “uninteresting” and “dull.” “Nobody home” 
in spirit is a sad commentary. Even in a “normal” home, father 


THE HOME 33 


comes home from business, tired and nervous, and demands quiet 
in the evening. But a “quiet” home is a deadly place to a boy. 
Part of the uninteresting character of homes today is to be 
accounted for by the contrast of “outside attractions,” all speeded 
and “jazzed up.’ 

93. I like to belong to a gang, because I have no one to play 
with at home. (A boy.) 

94. I know that the mother can tell the boy to go right home 
after school and to wait for her to come, but most of them do not 
do that. There is nothing exciting about home. (A boys’ worker.) 

95. Their lives at home are so barren that they bubble over 
with their wishes for excitement and attention, and no deed seems 
‘too brave to satisfy the craving for adventure. (A teacher.) 

96. I’m a father and am trying to set good ideals. As soon as 
the boy leaves home the influences tend to tear those down, so what 
can I do? We have a religious atmosphere in our home, but out- 
side there are anti-religious tendencies even. (A father.) 

97. House parties at the resorts are the worst thing that the 
parents have to contend with. A daughter or a son will say that 
he is going to a house party and then go off to the beach or most 
any place. Then at some of the house parties things happen 
which are not satisfactory. (A parent.) 

98. A generation ago it is estimated that 80 per cent of char- 
acter was formed in the home and about the fireside in those long 
evening talks; now the excitement and frivolity on every side and 
the, lack of a real home due’ to apartment life and the lack of 
space and interest leads many to believe that not more than 20 per 
cent of character is formed in the home. (A boys’ worker.) 

99. There is so much in life that glitters and attracts their 
attention. As a matter of fact, it isn’t so much the home that’s to 
blame as it is the things outside the home. Just think of the 
way boys and girls are spending their lives these days. Just follow 
through a day in the life of most children nowadays and what do 
you find? You find that they get up in the morning and as soon as 
breakfast is finished they go out to play, then they go to school, 
then they play some more, and go to school, and play; and finally 
they have their suppers, and then what do they do? It’s either 
to a show or movie, or for an auto ride, or to the beach, or they 
are allowed to play again on the street until nine or ten o’colck, 
and then they go to bed. Now, how much of all this time do they 
actually spend in the home? Not very much of it, when you get it 
figured out, and IJ think that’s where the real trouble is. It isn’t 
that the home has a bad influence over them. I think it’s because 
the home has practically no influence over them, (A social worker.) 


VIL... Ways Our 


Regular hours for companionship between father and son, 
averaging an hour a day, work well. An hour a day taken from 
money-making and given to the boys is urged by far seeing busi- 


34 SELICSB Owe DIN lec Loe hoy: 


ness men. The father who can be a hero and a companion both 
to his boy is especially successful. At certain ages boys are 
natural hero-worshipers, but how many view their fathers as 
their heroes? | 
Being a confidant for a boy requires time, but it is time well 
spent. Setting a helpful example for a boy is beyond many fathers. 
If a parent loses his temper in correcting his son, the best part of 
his influence is gone. If he hes over the telephone, he is helpless 
in influencing his son not to lie. If he smokes, he usually has 
trouble in holding his growing son away from the cigarette habit. 
If he boasts at the dinner table “of beating the other fellow,” even 
the law or the government, he may expect his boy to cut the 
corners of honesty, and even more than he has done. If he violates 
the anti-speed ordinances or the Volstead Act, and boasts of “get- 
ting by,” he will lkely need some day to defend his son against 
similar or more serious illegal acts. The attitude of parents 
toward obedience to law sets the minimum standards for their 
children. 


The parent who goes to the parents of his boys’ chums and 
develops a working agreement with them regarding what they will 
or will not allow their children to do is wise. If the parents of a 
boy’s pals allow the “pals” to keep late and irregular hours, the 
given boy is going to insist that he be allowed the same privileges. 
But if his parents and the other parents can all agree on reason- 
able hours for their sons, a difficult problem is solved. Co-opera- 
tion among parents is an important “way out.” 


Utilization of the gang spirit also brings results. The parent 
who captures the gang spirit and sets it to interesting and diversi- 
fled activity prevents the gang and his own boy from becoming 
predatory. 


The parent who begins early with his disciplinary methods 
saves himself much trouble later. During the first years the child’s 
association habits often become fixed—either to defy or to co-op- 
erate. 


Then there is the suggestion that parents ought to be trained 
for parenthood. While it is important that adult immigrants be 
taught English, it is more important that all parents be taught 
parenthood, including the principles of child psychology, hygiene 
both physiological and mental, and social psychology. Compulsory 
and nation-wide education for parenthood has been urged—at 
least to the extent of four hours a week. The providing of study 
and teachers would constitute a problem, but not an insuperable 
one. 


That parents must assume some responsibility for the welfare 
of other people’s children, even children of unlovely neighbors, or 
unlovely children of strangers, is increasingly evident. To look 
after one’s own children alone does not protect one’s own. We are 
not only our brother’s keeper, but in modern city life, the keeper 


THE HOME 35 


of our brothers’ children, our neighbors’ children, and the stran- 
gers’ children. Parental “unions” for co- ordinating parenthood, 
not among friends and cliques, but of a community-wide scope, are 
needed. 

The economic order requires attention. The underprivileged 
and overprivileged boys alike, but for opposite reasons, find it hard 
to become adjusted to social conditions constructively. <A less 
unequal distribution of economic goods would cut down delin- 
quency—other things being equal. 


100. The boys require heroes, but most fathers don’t seem 
like heroes to their own boy, and there’s where the trouble begins. 
The father has got to make himself a hero and be worthy of his 
boy. (A boys’ worker.) 


101, About seventy-five per cent of the parents of these children 
ought to be put on probation. In Denver they send the parents to 
school four hours a week, and among other things teach them 
something about child training. (A boys’ worker.) 


102. In our neighborhood, therefore, I have worked out this 
little plan, in which, when I want to restrict my boy, I go to the 
parents of his chums, talk the matter over with them, and we agree 
upon a common program, and that solves many of my troubles. 
(A parent.) 


103. A confidant is certainly necessary for both young boys 
and girls these days. If they cannot find this confidant in father 
or mother or brother or sister, they will get it elsewhere, and some- 
times not from the people from whom they should get it. (A 
boys’ worker.) 


104. If parents fail in everything else, it’s not nearly as impor- 
tant as their single failure to control the child; child training 
belongs within the home, and the school can only help in the train- 
ing, but cannot take it upon itself to do the job which is by right 
that of the parents. (A social worker.) 


105. There ought to be a national drive for teaching parent 
culture in all the schools, over the radio even, requiring parents 
to go to school four hours a week until they can pass certain stand- 
ards regarding child psychology and child sociology, if they’re 
going to be parents. (A boys’ worker.) 


106. The father explained that his boy was orderly, indus- 
trious, obedient, because he, the father, is a companion to him, takes 
him along on his trips, treats him like an understanding human 
being. In his experience, the boys in the neighborhood go wrong 
because they have no supervision; the parents are inefficient and 
don’t care about the activities of their boys. (A research worker.) 


107. An open and welcome house and a good feed for his 
friends will keep your boy at home and command the respect for 
his parents. Once you establish an attachment for the home, every- 
thing else takes care of itself. (A boy.) 


igs) 
CN 


HE BOW cUNe TE EAOor y 


108. Know your children’s friends. 

Know the parents of your children’s friends also. 

Know where your children are, day and night. 

Responsibility rests with the parents to make good at home. 

Eliminate don’t and replace it with do and give children some- 
thing to do. (A boys’ worker.) 


109. One of the mothers foresaw that on Hallowe’en evening 
there would be a great deal of property destroyed, and so she met 
with the mothers of the other boys and arranged for a wienie-bake 
on Hallowe’en evening in her yard. Her boy had five other boys 
over, and they stayed until ten o'clock, and forget all about Hal- 
lowe’en, and never destroyed a thing. Now, why can’t parents 
do more work like that all over the city? (A boys’ worker.) 


110. We need more close friendship between the parents and 
the boy. The home should be the center of attraction for the boy, 
he should be able to bring everything there but the athletic field 
and be welcome under all circumstances. The best of life should 
be there. We need less carpet in homes and more boy. Then the 
boy should respect father and mother; to do this you must begin 
early and love them. (A boys’ worker.) 


111. It’s allin the bringing up. Our mother always told us to 
be careful and look out for ourselves. She told us what would 
happen if we did not take care of ourselves. I always remembered 
her “be careful’? when I chose my friends. She always said that 
bad companions would get us into trouble, and I guess she is right. 
It all depends on the crowd you go with and on their interests. 
And, besides, we boys never had any time to get into trouble. We 
always worked and brought home the money, and when we go out 
we always tell her when we will be back. I know my mother wor- 
ries, and if I find I can’t be home on time I telephone her. She 
worries until I get home. (A boy.) 


112-13. In general there exists a moderate happy, grin-and- 
bear-it feeling at our home. My mother has often remarked that 
she has lived and wants to live to see me well educated. She has 
sacrificed and concentrated so that I might have some of the joys 
and luxuries that she thinks other boys have who have better 
situated parents. I for my part try and realize this parent-giving 
feeling, and | have succeeded so far in keeping a few personal 
ideals, such as being a non-smoker and non-drinker. The college 
life that a boy is thrown into often tempts a fellow to learn such 
habits, and the average boy is weak and often falls. But I can 
frankly say that I have not as yet fallen, and I think that I have 
overcome the greatest of the temptations. (A boy.) 


THE SCHOOL oe 


GRATE Re EE 


The Boy and the School 


With a unique heredity, and five years of emotional develop- 
ment and habit formation, often with a stock of bad emotional 
habits, the boy arrives at the schoolhouse door. He is active, rest- 
less, and thrust into somewhat standardized situations, presided 
over by adults with adult-made programs. 


I. First ADJUSTMENTS 


At first, in the kindergarten stage, the way is pleasant. Pres- 
ently, troubles arise. The rules grow irksome. The boy clashes 
with some teacher. Emotional and mental conflicts pile up. School 
discipline is compared unfavorably with home and neighborhood 
freedom, and vacation is longed for. 


On the whole, the school succeeds, for the large majority of 
conflicts are turned into adjustments. The far-reaching character 
of its influence stands out when we consider that every boy and 
girl theoretically comes within its jurisdiction. . It deals with many 
more boys than any other single institution, and it reaches them 
as an entire section of the population at an earlier age than any 
other except the family. 


Before the boy advances far, his intelligence quotient is deter- 
mined and he is assigned to an appropriate educational level. But 
a high I. Q. is no guarantee that the boy knows what to do with it. 
A high I. Q. and low emotional control may go together—in both 
boy and teacher—with what results? 


In view of the difficulties, the school copes well with the 
physical ailments that the boy brings to school and that he 
develops; it is recognizing the heavy role played in a _ boy’s 
behavior by lack of physiological balance. The influence, it may 
be added, of the athletic director for the older boys is much greater 
than school officials realize. 


Then there are the many queer notions that the child acquires 
from his home and neighborhood that the school must overcome. 
Lack of co-operation from untrained and unscientific parents is a 
special handicap that the school continually faces. ~ 


114. Delinquency may start in the schools. The boy gets 
fidgety and restless. The teacher corrects him. He reacts against 


38 JHE SBOVSENG TH Easily, 


the teacher, and a conflict is on. The situation grows worse. The 
principal is not able to adjust the difficulty. The truant officer is 
taken as a joke. The boy is sent to the special school. While 
attending the special school the boy may steal a bicycle, and then ~ 
is arrested for petty larceny, picked up by the police and sent to 
us. If he is over sixteen, he is put in the county jail awaiting trial. 
Unless the parents get him out, he is put in a tank with other boys, 
some of whom are hardened cases. He may come to think that 
he’s a hero by being tough, and in certain groups boasts of having 
been in jail. (A social worker.) 


II. Racrat Factors 


Differences in racial culture lead to conflicts between boys in 
school. Often conditions beyond school control may be continu- 
ally at work generating race prejudices at school. Race relations 
between white and colored people illustrate one aspect of the situ- 
ation. White people influence their children “to look down upon” 
the colored; the latter, in turn, learn from their parents to resist 
segregation, for it is viewed as a form of discrimination. Again, 
immigrant children (as a result of school advantages), “look down” 
upon their parents. 


115. I come in contact with the parents, who constantly come 
to me and tell me their troubles with their children. The greatest 
difficulty is the conflict of cultures. We find it present among all 
types, all classes, nations and races. The contacts the children 
make in school may alienate them from their parents. (A teacher.) 


116. Of course, we fear segregation, because of many things: 
if my boy goes to school where there are only Negro boys, he is 
not prepared to get out into the world and get along with the 
white, the Oriental, the Jew, and the immigrant. It’s a good thing 
for him to know how to compete with the Japanese boy or the 
Jewish boy. That sharpens him within school, and when he gradu- 
ates he does not have to make the transition which would be so 
hard for him later in the business world. (A parent.) 


III. Scuoot DIsciPLInE 


The greater the boy’s interest in school, the lesser the disci- 
pline problem. The more a teacher gives himself to his pupils, 
the less the delinquency. The greater the co-operative atmosphere 
pervading throughout the classrooms and the whole school, the 
smaller the attention on discipline. Perfect co-operation would 
crowd out discipline altogether, 


But perfection is rare, and school discipline obtains. Some- 
times it is handled through a system involving loss of privileges. 


THE: SCHOOL 39 


Less rarely, but far better, discipline problems are obviated by a 
system of merits. 


The rudiments of socialized government are developing, but 
student self-government so-called scarcely approximates socialized 
government. A real democratic type of self-government for a 
school would be one not run by teachers alone, principal alone, 
students alone, but by all represented in the same government, 
and perhaps by parents, and school boards also having representa- 
tion—with teacher committees, parent committees, and composite 
committees to do the work that each is best fitted for. 


117. I keep pretty close “tab” on all the cases that come into 
my office. Some of the teachers will send their boys to me if they 
just turn around or laugh out loud, or some little thing like that. 
I keep track of these cases, but they do not amount to much. If 
only one teacher sends a fellow in, I do not pay much attention to 
that, either. But the fellows that come from all the teachers are 
the ones that I watch. Generally after the first or second offense 
I call up the parents and ask them to come over and see me. When 
the boy has gotten into serious trouble or has come up several 
times, and [ think the case is liable to grow serious, I send him 
home; he cannot come back until he brings his parent with him. 
I talk the proposition over with the parent and boy, and with the 
parent alone. (A principal.) 


118. Those who talk most about discipline generally have the 
worst; students are not good because you nag and are petulant 
with them, but because you expect it of them and take their good 
behavior as a matter of course. The nervous, petulant teacher will 
produce the same attitude on the part of her students; that is only 
human nature. If we are looking for and expecting trouble and 
mischief, we are pretty sure to find it. Whether there will be 
trouble in the classroom or not depends upon the experience of the 
teacher, his native capacity, his mastery of the subject matter, and 
the whole general attitude of the classroom and school. If the 
teacher has a strong personality, knows his subject and how to 
make it interesting, generally he will experience very little diffi- 
culty, but the one who does not know just what to do and when . 
to do it will always have a discipline problem. It all comes back 
in the end to the person’s judgment and native capacities. (A 
teacher.) : 


IV. THE Over-SIzZED SCHOOL 


When a high school reaches a certain size, that is, when its 
enrollment goes over 1500 or 2000, special problems arise. The 
boys complain of being lost; and the teachers, of losing contact 
with boys. The machine-like character and sheer numbers is 
bewildering to adolescent minds. Large numbers of boys are 


40 THE BOVSI Neel Ly 


scarcely ever seen by the school counselor, the vice-principal, or 
other guiding hand, simply because they are not brilliant enough 
or “bad enough,” and yet they have serious problems the same 
as do other human beings. 


The school is endeavoring to meet its size and consequent. 
standardization difficulties with an individualization movement, 
that is, with X, Y, Z groupings, with development rooms, with 
adjustment rooms, with opportunity rooms, with foreign oppor- 
tunity rooms, with rooms for gifted children, and so on. In these 
ways progress is being made and misbehavior avoided. 


Often the high I. Q. children do less well than might be 
expected: sometimes because they have developed mediocre 
thought-habits when under the old system that was planned for 
the average ; sometimes because as bright children they are opposed 
to being drilled and have never learned the fundamental processes, 
for example, in a subject such as arithmetic. 


In the development rooms the lowest mental types need to be 
taken out and segregated. While the development room boys and 
girls (for mentally low children) do well in art and music, they 
need to be trained for a trade or occupation, so that when they 
leave a vocational trade center they will be able to take regular 
life-work positions. 

119. I really wish that I had the time to get better acquainted 
with my students, but that is out of the quesion. (A principal.) 


120. When the school gets so big, we lose our touch with the 
students, and that human touch is the most important thing. (A 
teacher. ) 


121. It is thus impossible to know much about the home life 
and home conditions of our students. There is much we ought to. 
know about the students coming here that we don’t know and 
probably never will be able to find out. If we were in a local com- 
munity it would be much easier to get along, but as it is, we must 
just do the best we can. Our students here come from all over the 
city; it takes some of them an hour and a half to get here. (A 
teacher. ) 


V. THe TEACHER 


The teacher is the pivot of the school system as far as creating 
or reducing the conflicts of boys are concerned. Trained in 
methods of teaching subjects, she is not always well versed in 
teaching children. The teacher often “grates on the nerve of the 
restless boy, ’’and vice versa—and a personality clash results. She 
(or he) may not understand the nature of personality, the problems 
of mental hygiene, and, most important of all, perhaps, the laws of 
intersocial stimulation, 





The teacher who “preaches” turns “problem” boys still more 
against her. A little knowledge of indirect suggestion, of condi- 
tioned reflexes, and so forth, would help such teachers solve their 


BoE SUEOOE 41 


hardest problems. Other teachers lose their temper, and, as in the 
case of the parent, they lose the respect of boys and girls. True, 
the teacher’s patience is often tried beyond all limits, but to lose 
her temper even under great provocation means that she has lost 
the respect of her pupils and that the worst problem boys have won 
in a conflict that need never have arisen. 


The boy easily and often unjustly gets the idea that the teacher 
is prejudiced against him and under no circumstances will give him 
a fair show. “Every little injustice is looked upon as a direct 
malicious thrust,” and finally the boy develops in his own mind 
a pretty good case against the teacher. As a result the teacher 
comes to see the boy at his worst, and so the conflict grows more 
serious. The personality clash is very little understood, even by 
psychologists—often being due to emotional reactions of “like” or 
“dislike” quite beyond the control of either boy or teacher. “Right 
there lies the crux of much of our friction in school;” neither 
teacher nor student understands the other, and there is small oppor- 
tunity to come to know each other, 


Teachers unconsciously and habitually display the attitude 
that some boys are “dumbbells anyway.” ‘These boys are quick to 
sense the situation, but feel helpless—as they are. Boys repeat- 
edly object “to being bawled out.” However great sinners they 
may be, “a bawling out” is more than likely to make them worse 
ones. The teacher who commands “wriggling Willie’ to sit still 
does not know that such a command makes Willie want to wriggle 
more than ever, and that she is helping to create a “wriggling 
complex” and “a bad boy.” One of the worst habits of many 
teachers is to make sarcastic remarks to boys. These are always 
resented, and the boys’ attitudes made more unwholesome if not 
even dangerous. 


122. ‘They are more interested in presenting the subject than 
they are in assisting the students to get it. (A boy.) 


123. I don’t like French and English. The French teacher has 
it “in for me,’ and. she is the only one in the school, and I have to 
keep on taking the course. (A boy.) 


124. The teacher of this class is very hot-headed at times, and 
when he gets angry you can not talk to him at all. We find some 
teachers who do not try to understand the boys. They seem to 
have no sympathy with their problems. (A principal.) 

125. I never want a teacher who has difficulties in her own 
home. I want teachers who are care-free and happy and joyful and 
who have an understanding of the immigrant child. A teacher who 
comes here to teach her subject and is done when the bell rings can 
accomplish very little indeed. (A principal.) 

126. I have always had trouble in school. I am so nervous 
that I do something without thinking, and then the teacher will 
bawl me out—this red-haired one especially—until you feel just 


42 DHE BOVINA eer ie 


—well, I don’t know how to express it; just like thirty cents. I 
never did like to go to school to have some teacher yell at you to 
get to work, and to be cooped up all day in school. You would not 
like to have some teacher “‘sore”’ at you all the time, either, would 
you? When I don’t have my lesson, I would rather stay away from | 
school than go. (A boy.) 


127. I am failing in three subjects. I came in late, the class 
was ten lessons ahead, the teacher told me nothing about the back 
lessons, and I have lost heart. All the teacher does is to bawl me 
out for not having the work, and I can’t get it, and don’t like the 
course. (A boy.) 


128. I had a teacher here who did very good work, but one 
day got provoked and said something that made them think she 
looked upon them as dirty Mexicans, and she could not do a thing; 
and finally I had to transfer her to another school. If you “look 
down” upon them, you might as well quit; you must have their 
respect, but not their distrust. (A principal.) 


129. One day another boy and I were laughing over a joke 
that he had told me, and she ordered us to quit laughing (it was 
during a recitation) and that only made me laugh the more. I 
could not quit, even then, but had to laugh the more. This made 
her mad, and she came down the aisle and hit me on the back, but 
it did not hurt, and I laughed in her face. Then she ordered me to. 
go to the principal’s office. (A boy.) 


130. I used to cut a class every opportunity I got. The 
teacher was just out of college, and when we did not have the. 
awful assignments she made, all she would do was to spend the 
hour in sarcastic remarks, and there were a number of us who 
did not go to class any oftener than we had to. I think more of 
the difficulties occur over the teacher failing to understand a stu- 
dent than through the boy not having interest in the materials of 
the course of study. (A boy.) 


131. I don't like algebra very much; I am afraid I may flunk 
in it. My penmanship teacher would make a good preacher. He 
is always preaching about mathematics all the time. He makes 
me so nervous that I have to lay down my pen and wait until he 
is through. He preaches mathematics all day long. When I go to 
get up and get another piece of paper, when the last one is not full, 
he acts real hard-boiled and tells me to go back to my seat, but 
underneath his hard-boiled exterior he is soft, and I like him in 
spite of his preaching. (A boy.) 

132. For perhaps “about half of the boys” in one room the 
new type of “adjustment work” is now being tried, and is pro- 
nounced highly satisfactory thus far. The “home visiting” is. 
done here by the principal, as is the case in the other schools. He 
is paid a “continuation salary,” and this work is done largely after 
school hours. He expressed himself as being able to make several 


Bite SCHOOL 43 


visits each night, though it seems to the interviewer that this would 
necessarily be a very hasty survey of the home of “several” prob- 
lem boys. (A research worker.) 


133. A great many of the teachers do not understand the 
fellows, and the fellows do not understand the teachers. Just a 
short while ago I realized that teachers were human just as I was. 
Generally the only contact that we have is in the classroom, and 
we look upon the teacher as some sort of an inhuman tyrant. 
Recently I have gotten to know some of them more intimately 
through hikes and parties, and have come to like them. But right 
here lies the crux of much of our friction in the school; neither 
teacher nor student understands the other. (A boy.) 


134. My classroom teacher does not like me, and I don’t like 
him either. Another fellow and’I were going to this classroom, 
and after we were seated this other fellow was trying on a glove 
and making out like he was going to catch a fly out in the aisle, 
and the teacher bawled him out for it. That made us sore. Then, 
a little later, we were talking together, and he called us for that 
and gave us a long lecture on courtesy and politeness. A week or 
so later there was a knock at the classroom door, and he never went 
or anything, but yelled, “Come in,” and it was one of his music 
friends, and he shook hands with him, and never got up or any- 
thing. Before this friend left, his wife came in, and he introduced 
her to the man without getting up, and after they had gone I went 
up and bawled him out for not practicing what he preached. Ever 
since then he and I have told each other what we think of one 
another several times. (A boy.) 


VI. Sex INstrRUCTION 


Sex instruction is necessary in the schools, because many 
parents fail. The subject is treated in hygiene and biology classes, 
but not many teachers are skillful at the task. It appears that here 
the school has a great unsolved problem. 


135. ‘There is no sex instruction given in this school; it is not 
on our course of study. Biology is left for the senior high. The 
correct place to give sex instruction is in the home. It should begin 
when the child is about four months old; you can’t begin too yung. 
(A principal.) 

136. There is no sex instruction being given in any organized 
way in this school. Dr. was just added to the faculty this 
year, and I think that the boys take their sex problems to him. He 
tells me that many of the boys will tell him all about their prob- 
lems if he can just get them started to talking. (A principal.) 


137. I think that the boys are too young for it here, too self- 
conscious, and the boys will take it as a joke, or are liable to. It 
takes a very capable teacher to teach it; I would not like to attempt 
it myself. An older man, say a doctor, might be able to with small 





44 THE BOYRUN: Gitreaer iy. 


groups, but the place for this is in the home, from the parent to the 
child. Very little is being done in the home along this line; many 
times I find both boys and girls that have not had a bit of informa- 
tion in the home but know a-plenty about it just the same. (A 
teacher. ) 


VIIlv - PHeE Socrau PACE 


Many conflicts and much of the poor school work may be 
charged up to the social pace. School parties, particularly dances, 
are a problem, solved or partly solved in various ways. The high 
school girl is likely to become “dance crazy,” but always because 
of boys. The sex problem makes the dance problem complicated. 
Social clubs, high school “frats,” athletics and other activities com- 
pete with studies until the latter become a farce at times. 


The expense of social life, especially to boys, in the last high 
school year mounts high. The wealthier set the pace, the girls “fall 
for all the show,’ and some fellows steal in order to maintain 
appearances. 


138. Too many of our students get off on a joy ride the night 
before and are tired out from that rather than from overgrowth 
or from overstudy. (A teacher.) 


139. We do not have any dances here at school, but have 
many parties in place of them. The students here seem to enjoy 
themselves just as much as anywhere. (A principal.) 


140. We try to give them responsibility for someone else. 
The high school often has a rule that everybody must belong to 
some extra-curriculum club. But a camera club, for example, does 
not go far enough. (A teacher.) - 


141. The richer high school boys ape the college fellows, but 
the problem depends also on the ones that they have been thrown 
in contact with and to what extent. It is harder for the poor boy 
in high school than in college. (A teacher.) 


142. Stealing comes to our attention. The girls steal for 
clothes, the boys steal to have a good time. Some high school 
seniors spend a hundred dollars a month. These cases are rather 
hard.to handle, because the boys don’t confess and the parents are 
hard to reach, 


143. There are no general student dances, like penny dances, 
such as they have over at —————.. Here every dance must be 
given by some club or class, and only members of that group can 
come, and with every affair there must be so much other stuff, as 
program, games, etc.; as much other as there is of dancing. We 
don’t like that very well. (A teacher.) 


144. We always have our dances and parties here in the after- 
noon. This reduces the problems connected with such affairs. 
Held in the afternoon, they are very closely chaperoned, and then 
when the affair is over everyone goes home in much the same way 


THE: SGHOOL 45 


as he does from school. Thus are avoided a thousand and one 
problems of behavior after they leave here, such as the parents 
calling up the next day, ‘Mary was at the dance last night and 
never got home until three o’clock. Where was she, anyway?” 
We have none of that. Yes, it is true that the students will go 
some to dances at public dance halls. (A principal.) 


145. One of our biggest problems is keeping the school demo- 
cratic—keeping it from breaking up into cliques and being run 
by those cliques. I am very much opposed to cliques, and so far 
‘ve have not had very much trouble with them. To keep the school 
democratic, we have supervised the social life very closely. We 
do not have any school dances; at these, the students from the 
‘wealthy homes would be able to put on airs and act snobbish. In 
a short time they would be running the social activities, for those 
from the poorer homes would not come if they felt they were going 
to be slighted, and only those who have too much social life already 
would be there. (A principal.) 


146. I have six classes and average apout thirty-five to a 
class; I scarcely have any contact with my scholars from one class 
period to the next. Altogether I have one hundred and ninety 
students; I can’t come to know many of these very well. Of course, 
if we reduce the number in each class we will have to increase 
the number of our schools and teachers; this will increase our 
expense, and unless we can get more money, this is impossible at 
present. I think that no class should be over twenty-five. Then I 
think that our high schools are too large, too much like machines; 
neither can we make them very small, or the expense will be pro- 
Pibiive ws teacher, } 


147. He did good work here, but could not stand it in a big 
high school. “Well, it is just this way,’ he told us; “you have 
to be in this place at a certain hour, and when so many minutes 
are up you have to be in this place, and so on through the day. No 
one seems interested in you. The teachers rarely talk to you; 
there is no one to say, ‘Hello, John, how is everything today?’ 
‘Where were you yesterday?’ or anything. I don’t like it. The 
school is so big that I am lost in it.” Not many of them will tell 
you that, but it 1s true. Our schools are too big; there is too little 
personal attention in them. The time a student gets most atten- 
tion is when he has gotten into trouble. Somehow, we need some 
kind of a co-ordinator, but this is a very difficult position to fill, 
for he can’t take the part of the student against the school or he 


will break down the discipline of the school, so there vou are. 
(A boy.) i 


VIII. Truancy 


Truancy may be boy-created, gang-created, parent-created, or 
school-created. The boy may develop an urge to stay out, and not 
know why he has it; and his teacher may not know that he has it. 


46 IH BBO Wap Nie reel Ty 


Grown-ups who never cease to play hookey from committee meet- 
ings or unpleasant engagements fail to put themselves in a boy’s 
place sometimes. The “other boys” suggest a trip to the beach, 
with the result that the scorn of the gang is harder to face than that 
of the teacher. Parents keep children out of school for economic 
and a hundred and one other reasons. When the school sets up 
what are “rigid rules” to a boy and puts their administration in the 
hands of a teacher whom the boy “can’t stand,” truancy multiplies. 
To get. behind in one’s grade and “too big for the other kids” is 
discouraging. . 

“Too lazy to work” is related to truancy. But if it is vacation, 
and miles of tramping are in sight, the “lazy” boy may undergo 
an amazing transformation. Sometimes the boy is overgrown for 
his age; sometimes, according to mental hygiene, there is a lack 
of balance in the endocrine system. Sometimes laziness is an 
acquired habit for “getting by’—by “floating along in the group.” 

148. Oh, boy, we have no school tomorrow. It’s our teacher’s 
visiting day. Oh, brother, oh, joy! Don’t have to go to school 
tomorrow! (A boy.) 

149. The pool halls, movies and beaches are the chief rivals 
we have for school attendance. (Assistant supervisor of attend- 
ance. 

250, We have about eight per cent of failures here; but I 
think that the majority of the students work, and work hard. Most 
of the failures come from those who are too lazy to work. (A prin- 
cipal.) 

151. Attendance agents are no longer hookey cops solely, 
but are educating the parents in the need of education. A super- 
visor of attendance needs a social worker’s training today. (A 
boys’ worker.) 

152. Some of the boys play hookey just because they are too 
big for the classroom. We have kids here about thirteen and four- 
teen who are six feet tall; can’t blame them for not wanting to asso- 
ciate with little kids. (A teacher.) 

153. The lack of good clothes for the boy when he gets to 
Junior High School makes him play hookey. There are too many 
swell dressers there. That is too bad, because the sweller dresser 
one is, the poorer student he is. (A teacher.) 

154. We really have more trouble with attendance and hookey 
and ditching during football season than at any other time, because 
the fellows want to get away to get a good seat at the game. If the 
teacher will not let them go, then they go anyway. (A teacher.) 

155. ‘Truancy isn’ bad. That is, if you just stay away one day. 
Every boy likes to do that, and that’s the reason why the law 
makes only three days’ absence an offense. The bad thing about 
truancy, I think, is not running away, but being away without 
parents or teachers knowing where you are, and then one boy sug- 
gests something to do and the rest all follow, and trouble results. 
(A boy.) 


Haha GHOoOL 47 


EX THE SPECIAL SCHOOL 


For boys who get into trouble in the regular schools the special 
schools have been provided. Formerly principals of the regular 
schools “expelled” an unruly boy, saying that he failed “to obey 
our rules,” but never saying that “we failed in getting him to co-op- 
erate with the school.” To expel a boy does not solve the problem 
—the boy is likely to go from bad to worse. In order to save this 
boy, the special school has been developed. 


We find principals, however, who do not send their trouble- 
some boys to the special schools. Sometimes the boys’ problems 
are skillfully solved at the regular school, and sometimes the boys 
are kept there without their problems being solved. Some admin- 
istrators advocate giving the special problem boys as much indi- 
vidual attention as possible at the regular school, but if that fails, 
they urge sending them from the entire city to a twenty-four hour 
school conducted in the rural environs of the city. 


The special school gives specialized attention to each boy, 
trying to find out the boy’s background in both heredity and 
environment, what his special interests are, and then meeting him 
more than half way. The problem is one calling for the best social 
work, psychiatric, psychological and sociological training. Such 
training in a teacher, however, requires a larger salary than is now 
paid. It needs to be rated higher than regular teaching, so that it 
will be sought by the specially qualified. 


The special schools have charge of the boys for five to seven 
hours a day, but the good work they can do is in danger of being 
undone during the other hours. With no adequate co-operation 
from the home, and with associates presenting “old temptations” 
to the boys to and from school and in the evenings, the special 
school teacher has much to contend against. 


If the special school is to have a fair chance, as much needs 
to be done for the boy in his home and neighborhood situations as 
in his school situation. The problem is a community one and 
requires the co-operation of all community agencies. The problem 
boy may get his school difficulties adjusted at the special school, 
but what about his difficulties at home, with the “gang,” and so 
forth? 


Another problem that the special school faces is that as soon 
as a boy develops a new constructive attitude he goes back to the 
regular school, so that the special is without adjusted boys to set 
examples for the other boys. The special is also contending with 
the reputation of having only delinquent boys. For this reason 
some parents object to their sons going to special. Related to this 
point is another—that some boys consider themselves heroes if 
they are sent to special. Most of the difficulties are overcome, how- 
ever, for most boys, where the case work trained teacher. is in 
charge and where social case work and personal follow-up work 


48 THE BOYNING EERE GLY, 


can be conducted regularly and fully for each boy, and where 
teacher and boy work together with full co-operation to help the 
boy overcome his conflicts. The greater the skill in securing: cO-Op- 
eration, the less the necessity for using force. 

156. His mother said that he had gotten in with older boys 
going to and from special who had a bad influence with’ him, and 
that if he was continued at the special, she wanted him to go to 
school and back alone, and not in company with the older boys. 
(A boys’ worker.) | 

A/a ea special school is a chance for a boy to start over new. 
I say to him: “Johnnie, [ am not going to bring up your past 
record unless you force me to do so. There is to be no smoking, 
no swearing, no stealing, here. We want you to do your best. We 
want your conduct to pee" the best there is in you.” (A prin- 
cipal.) 

158. Our work is more social service than education. Educa- 
tion has failed with them and they are social problems, and so we 
are a social problem solving agency. We have no rules that are 
absolute. Every individual is considered on the basis of his own 
problem. The attitude of the boy is that we have all been in 
trouble and are trying to get out. (A principal.) 

159. One of our problems is getting the boys home after 
school. Some of them don’t get home at all, but stay out all night. 
Some have to transfer two or three times.. Then the problem is 
complicated because many of our boys have low I. Q.’s and thus 
are deeply subject to temptation—first, along the way, in getting 
home over a distance of four miles, and second, because of lack of 
mental control. (A teacher.) 

160. We need a higher type of special school teacher—one 
who has, in addition to educational training and experience, a sub- 
stantial degree of social case work training. Can’t we begin with 
sophomores in college and get them interested in this combined 
teaching and social work enterprise, and have them plan early in 
their college course on a program of several years’ standing which 
will make them superior workers? Our special schools cannot rise 
higher than the quality of training which our teachers bring to their 
work. (A special school teacher.) 

161. 1] never had very much trouble in school, except in the 
eighth grade, where I had a music teacher who would always 

“holler” at us when we did not do just as she wanted us to. 
Another teacher in English was always preaching at us, and I never 
liked her either. I like it better here than any place, for the prin- 
cipal gets out and plays with us and is a real good scout. He helps 
us when we can’t get something, instead of just telling us to get 
to work and do it, without showing us how. (A boy.) 


X. THe Miitary SCHOOL 


Wealthy parents fall back upon the military school when their 
boys become incorrigible. The price is often high, not in dollars 


Lo SCHOOL 49 


and cents, but in superior or haughty attitudes. The rigid disci- 
pline helps the boy to appreciate his own home, but may result in 
a “letting down” at home and increased demands on parents. When 
either “demerits” or “merits” are emphasized, the process turns 
out on occasion to be one of “buying manners.” ‘The best military 
schools are tending away from the “military” emphasis, from 
appealing to fear, and toward developing the co-operative attitude 
in their boys. | 


162. With the rich, the bad boys are sent to military schools, 
and we don’t get any of them. Their offenses are grand larceny, 
petting parties and speeding. When a boy gets in trouble, they 
pay twelve hundred dollars to a boarding school, and we don’t see 
him. (A boys’ worker.) 

163. They have to shine their own shoes, be very careful 
about their hands and finger nails every day. They have a system 
of demerits, and when a boy gets a certain number he is given a 
“special,” which means that he has to march up and down in the 
yard, doing guard duty, or that he cannot go home over the week- 
end if he wishes. The boys are afraid of being given.a “special.” 
(A boys’ worker.) 


164. I do not like to drill; and I do not like the strict disci- 
pline. My mother was not very well last winter, and she and I 
thought it would be fine to go to this academy, where I could ride 
horses and everything. But every time you do something that the 
officers do not like, you have to do extra drilling. And if you have 
so many points taken away from you, you can’t go home over 
Sunday. _I like to go to school here much better. I have joined a 
troup of Boy Scouts. (A boy.) 


XI. THE Iwenty-Frour Hour ScHoo. 


The difficulties that the special school must contend with in 
allowing its boys to return to a bad environment every day suggest 
naturally the twenty-four hour school. It is a logical place for a 
problem behavior boy whose environmental stimuli are destructive. 


The alternative is a private home, but “you can’t get any decent 
home to take any of these rough-neck kids.’’ The purpose of the 
school would be to take such boys and train them so that they 
might be returned to private homes and regular schools as soon as 
possible. The need exists, and bad parental and associational con- 
ditions are steadily creating a greater need. 


A start might be made with fifty boys, but the number should 
not exceed two hundred or three hundred at any one time. A mini- 
mum plot of twenty-five acres in an outlying district, together with 
a complete trade school and recreational equipment, would be 
essential. The expense would be high. If the county supervisors 
undertook it, a reform reputation would soon develop for it; hence, 
it might better be developed as a part of the public school system, 
with a specific educational reputation. 


50 THES BOVEINGTHEPCULY 


To make the operation of a twenty-four hour school legal under 
the direction of the Board of Education would require an enabling 
act passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. Such an 
institution, however, with specialized social worker trained teachers 
in charge, would meet a need of that increasing number of boys 
whose environmental tendencies are largely destructive. It would 
be better and cheaper in the long run, of course, to improve the 
adverse environments. 


165. Every special school has about a fourth of its boys whose 
home conditions and associates are undoing all the good of the 
school. Then almost every regular school would have boys whom 
they would like to send there, and then a good many would come 
from Juvenile Hall, and some parents would want to get their 
boys in; the list would soon mount up. (A research worker.) 


166. There are certain types of boys who are of a nomadic and 
wandering nature; we need a twenty-four hour school for them, for 
it works well with them, but for the boy who steals, or is immoral, 
the best place for him is in the regular or special school, where he 
can stay at home and will not be with others any more than it can 
be helped or they will spread their deficiencies to others not so 
addicted., \(A’ teacher, } 


167. JI am convinced that we need one for administrative rea- 
sons, if for no other ones. We have no place to send the boys who 
are just border-line cases, not real bad, but in such a condition to 
become such in a short time under their present circumstances and 
environment. We need some place where we can send. the boys 
who are potentially delinquent and give them special training until 
they are ready to go back to school or society. There would be 
consultation with teacher, attendance officer, social workers, and 
with all those dealing with the boy before he was committed to such 
a school. The home would have to be very defective, not only 
economically, but socially and morally. I suppose that a number of 
boys would come from homes where immoral conditions were pres- 
ent. For even a poor home is better than no home, and before we 
take a boy away from his home. we must feel sure that we have 
something better for the boy. (A research worker.) 


168. I am absolutely sold on the twenty-four hour school for 
some types of boys. We have our regular schools, and special 
schools, and the state schools, but there is no place in between the 
two for the boy whose home and surrounding conditions will make 
him delinquent in the course of time. We have not done much 
for these boys, but when the little that is accomplished in the five 
or six hours at school is pitted against the other eighteen spent 
outside of school, we do not have much chance. I could put my 
hands on a number of boys, enough to start such a school, right 
now, who are not yet delinquent, but will be in spite of everything 
we can do at school. (An educator.) 


THE SCHOOL 51 


XII. THe CuHitp GuIpANCE CLINIC 


The need for the best clinical treatment that can be afforded 
is clear. The Child Guidance Clinics of the country have set a 
pace which public schools in various parts of the country are begin- 
ning to adopt. The plan is based on securing the co-operation of the 
problem boy, that is, in starting from his point of view. It con- 
siders the use of force, of threats, of “bawling out a boy,” as a 
failure in securing the needed co-operation. Ridicule of the boy, 
threats, and what to the boy might be implied insults are not per- 
mitted. The atmosphere is one of quiet but firm co-operation. ‘The 
“hearing” of one boy is not held in the presence of other boys, for 
such a procedure shows the listeners what kind of evidence will 
“get by,’ and what will not, making them shrewd “defense crimi- 
nals”’ The minimum staff requirements include a physician, a 
psychiatrist, a psychologist, and a social case worker—all as near 
the top in their respective professions as can be secured. They 
need to be supported by the best research and record-keeping 
methods. 


This clinic occupies a crucial place in a public school system. 
It operates at the crux of the boy problem in a city. 


XIII. Part-Time Epucation © 


Part-time education plays a strategic role, for it involves the 
boy’s vocational interests at a time when he is thinking seriously 
about them. The California state law requires attendance at school 
until eighteen years of age to the extent of at least four hours a 
week after sixteen years of age. Boys with normal I. Q.’s might 
be expected to be in regular high school during the years from 
sixteen to eighteen. From that angle their appearance in the part 
time school indicates the existence of special problems. The school 
thus tries to restore the boy to a normal situation and at the same 
time to prepare him vocationally for life. As a co-ordinator of the 
boy, of an occupational education, and of the home, the part-time 
school has an important social task. 


The teacher needs to be a social worker and psychiatric expert 
in one. She must adjust conditions at home, with the employer, and 
so on. Foreign parents, ignorant native parents, and sometimes 
autocratic wealthy parents, must be instructed. 


Employers object to sending a boy off for four hours of study 
a week, but this is largely a matter of education of employers so 
that they will make the necessary readjustments. Too many em- 
ployers do not look at the sixteen-year-old boy as needing work 
that will “lead somewhere.” ‘Too many are willing to employ boys 
at “blind alley” jobs as long as the boys will stay. 


The adjustment of a boy to an appropriate life work is one of 
the largest opportunities of the part-time school. At present it is 
necessary for boys to “take whatever jobs they can get.” There is 
little selection of positions for many of them. ‘There is inadequate 


52 HE BONN Nabe, 


boy analysis with reference to his life work. No comprehensive 
survey of positions for boys and young men in Los Angeles has 
been made. ‘Those best fitted to know report the extensive need of 
a survey of positions open to boys, where they are, what qualifica- 
tions they require, what opportunities for advancement they offer. 


The part-time boy is working for wages, but under part-time 
rules his shortcomings are reported to him or to the school, and 
the latter may help strengthen the weak places in his equipment. 
The boy thus has the practical and theoretical combined in his 
every-day work, 

The new full-time schooling law for boys between sixteen and 
eighteen who are not working gives a better check on this age 
period. After the first difficulties are met and the school has had 
a fair chance, and boys have become accustomed to it, it will solve 
many behavior problems and prevent delinquency. The lazy boys 
and drones will have to choose between work and study. They will 
come under supervision. 


169. It seems possible that the Part-Time High School and 
its related departments are being called upon to solve many prob- 
lems at a comparatively late school age which might have been 
solved by the regular school at an earlier and more plastic school 
age.. (A research worker.) 


170. The employment agency of the school stands as the 
go-between for the juvenile to be employed and the employer. The 
boys are minors and are not able “to sell themselves” to their pros- 
pective employer to their best advantage. The school gets the boy 
the job and stands behind him. In that way it is a sort of assurance 
to the employer that he will get fairly good labor. It all works in 
a cycle: the school, the boy, the employer, and then back to the 
school again. If the boy loses his job, he has to give an account 
of himself to the school, for the latter gets him his job and will 
continue to see that he works or goes back to regular time school. 


Then after the boy has his job there is a follow-up system pur- 
sued. The employer gives the school an idea of what the boy needs 
in the way of spelling, or penmanship, or arithmetic, etc. Then 
the boy’s course is adjusted to meet these needs. (A school super- 
visor. ) 


XIV. ‘TRAINING IN SocIAL SELF-CONTROL AND CHARACTER 


The training of character, which is a major aim of public 
schools, involves ‘self-control in accordance with social needs.” 
A co-operative atmosphere in the classroom, generated by the 
teacher, is basic. Participation in co-operative activity by the boy 
is one of the best chafacter development processes. Since athletics 
rank high in many boys’ estimation, the character examples set by 
athletic coaches are vital. A constructive religious attitude on the 
part of the teacher gives substantial help. Example and precept 
of business men are imitated widely by boys—toward a greedy ora 





BE SCHOOL 53 


sacrificing philosophy of life, as the case may be. Parents and 
“pals” are primary factors. The school is in a position to co-or- 
dinate all these and to create a new and high public opinion regard- 
ing character development and its processes. 


171. Then there is the method of “circular response.” A boy 
runs away from school. The truant officer pounces on him. He 
gets defiant. The officer threatens him. He gets worse, and so a 
large portion of his delinquent attitude is built up from the way in 
which he is handled. (A boys’ worker.) 


172. And that’s just exactly one of the things I means when I 
say our modern education is trying to build a top-heavy super- 
structure on a little two-by-four base of moral character, and the 
result is, it doesn’t stand the strain. What we need in school is 
more training in moral and ethical standards, and then we wouldn’t 
have so many of these delinquent boys and girls coming through 
here. (A principal.) 

173. The coach is also tremendously important; he is the 
most important person in the school. He can do more for good 
throughout the whole school than any other person in it. He 
can get closer to the boys and knows them better. He can help 
those who have bad habits, as self-abuse, etc. Most boys idolize 
the coach, and all boys lke an upstanding, two-fisted, powerful 
fellow, and when their hero suggests something to them you may 
be pretty sure that they will act on the suggestion. If the coach 
instills into them the idea that they are to play fair and square and 
that real sportsmanship is the biggest thing, the whole school is 
rather liable to be permeated with the same spirit. (A principal.) 


XV. THE VISITING TEACHER AND SOCIAL WORKER 


The visiting teacher and the home teacher are in important 
positions relative to solving the problems of children. The visiting 
teacher, as a trained social case worker, makes personality adjust- 
ments, and the home teacher, conducting class work in the homes, 
helps to bring the boy to school age in better shape than would 
otherwise be the case. The visiting teacher, especially, can keep 
in touch with the boy through his school years. The visiting 
teacher can do follow-up work of the first order in the home and 
neighborhood for the school. A larger emphasis here is greatly 
needed. 


174. Generally it is the same boy who makes trouble at home 
who does it at school. (A teacher.) 

175. Joyful teachers are needed. These foreign people do not 
know how to make their own joys. They are overburdened with 
cares and past troubles. (A research worker.) 


176. She gets worried about me spending so much time on 
one student, with these other two thousand not getting any atten- 
tion, but she will see in time that we have to work more with the 
individual in order to help the group. (A principal.) 


54 THE CBOYV PING Tae Ley: 


177. ‘The home teacher was the only one who came to us and 
showed concern over our troubles. She came when our Isaac “got 
sick on us,” and she took him to the hospital, cared for him like 
her own child and far better than his own mother, because she is 
always busy. We can’t forget all she has done for.us. She has 
come in an hour of need and has proved to be the real Christian. 
(A parent.) 


178. Our father died when we were small, and our mother 
made us go to school, and she would go out and work to make 
money to keep us in school, and the people around here talked 
about us a lot and said that we were lazy, for their boys were not 
wasting their time in school, but were working, and we ought to be 
too, instead of our mother. We never wanted to go to school, but 
wanted to work and save our mother, but she would not let us 
stop. (A boy.) 


179. Our home teacher is successfully curbing these traits. 
She is highly efficient, energetic, and she meets these parents and 
boys on a level which no one else could. She can tell them things 
which I would never dare, and these parents “take it” from. her, 
and many of them idolize her. If we have achieved any measure of 
success in this community, it’s due to the labors of the home 
teacher. I can’t be too grateful to the Board becaues they left her 
here with me. Without her I could not have carried on the work 
when I first arrived in this school. (A principal.) 


180, skléere 1s¥k: , who is failing in two subjects. He says 
that he does not study. Why, he has no place, the house is small 
and the family large, and all of them are talking, and he finally 
gets tired trying and goes out to a show or goes to bed or joins 
in the racket. Then the radio often causes some of them to slight 
their lessons from listening to that. “Yes, I want to study, but I 
can’t.” But he promises to buckle down and do better. Just the 
very fact that someone has shown an interest in him helps him 
to brace up and really do better, as shown by his next report. Then 
I send word to the classroom teacher, telling her the results of the 
interview, and at times making certain recommendations. (A 
principal.) 





181. Besides the academic work she has, she also does what 
would be termed child welfare work. About one-fifth of her time is 
spent in visiting the homes of her pupils’ parents. She acts as the 
co-ordinating influence between the school and the home, and irons 
out all the difficulties and misunderstandings that she can, There 
are often foreign parents, and their ignorance, to contend with. They 
do not understand the school laws regarding compulsory attend- 
ance. They are ignorant of American customs and practices, or 
any of a hundred other things. She also must do case work in 
respect to family difficulties, very much in the same way as we have 
been noticing in the Judge Baker Foundation Studies. (A teacher.) 


TH CHURCH 55 


CHAPTER IV 


The Boy and the Church 


The church, an institution of religion and morals, might be 
expected to take the lead in helping boys solve their problems. But 
if there is one thing the average boy dislikes, it is being “preached 
at,’ as he says. If parents today wish to create a dislike for church 
on the part of their boys, they may do so by requiring them “‘to sit 
quiet” in an hour and a half service made by adults for adults. Boys 
like formalism, to be sure, but it must be a formalism that fits the 
boys’ world of action, feeling, and thought. 


The boy’s religious world has distinctive differences from the 
adult’s religious world of which the average adult does not know. 
Here, adult-controlled religion is often blind. 


I. RELIGION’ AND THE Boy’s HoME 


The Survey data show that the earliest development of a boy’s 
religious life ordinarily depends on parental attitudes. (1) One type 
of parents are favorable to a wholesome religious growth that is 
carried out in ways to which the boy responds. They show an 
understanding of the psychology of both the boy and of religion, 
and of each boy’s unique reactions to religion. These parents are 
usually able to put themselves back into their own childhood reli- 
gious experiences and also to project themselves into the changed 
conditions of the boy’s world today, and thus are able to help the 
boy make the necessary religious adjustments. Such parents are 
the exceptions rather than the rule. 


(2) The second type of parents favor religion, but bluntly 
and hence unwisely enforce religious teachings and practices, pro- 
ducing reactions against religion. They mean well but are inflex- 
ible. They have not grown religiously since they were young; 
their religion is usually intolerant, but their worst offense is 1n their 
methods of force. But such tactics create hatred of religion. When 
the religious growth of a boy is put on any other basis than that 
of co-operative working together on the difficult problems of both 
faith and practice, problems which adults have not yet solved, its 
success is endangered if not doomed. 


(3) Parents’ attitudes may be neutral toward religion, but 
this lukewarmness affords a weak support to a boy’s religious 


56 THE -BOYOUN ® PEEACLTY: 


tendencies and he fails to maintain a start, if he makes one. He 
gives up when moments of doubt (personal) and scorn (social) 
come. Sometimes a friend or relative will take an interest in a 
boy’s religious tendencies, and help him over the rough places. 


(4) Some parents are unfavorable or even sneering and “hard- 
boiled” in their attitudes toward religion, and the boy grows up 
“outside the pale.’ Unless help comes to the boy very early from 
outside the family, his anti-religious reactions become fixed—prob- 
ably for life. The destructive atmosphere produces adverse habits 
with emotional fixations. 


(5) One parent may be favorable and the other unfavorable. 
If they disagree on religious matters, the boy is likely to turn ~ 
against religion. If not, then the boy is likely to go whichever 
way the parent that understands him the better leans. 


182. When I was a youngster I went to Sunday school 
because all did. After that I thought it was worth while and 
attended of my own accord. (A boy.) 


183. Parents are interested in their boys, but they just haven’t 
time. They won’t help out on Sundays, because they don’t want 
to be tied down. They want to be free to get away from the busy 
confusion of the city on Sunday. (A boys’ worker.) 


184. In the religious education of the child, I feel that it is 
necessary to start with the infant. It isn’t enough to start in with 
the boy after he has grown out of infancy. Children get most of. 
their religious concepts before they are four years of age—truth, 
honor, love, obedience, etc.—and it is a mistake not to begin the 
religious education of the child when he is still an infant. (A 
parent.) 


185. There is a tremendous loss in church attendance. Let 
us take 100,000 boys beginning Sunday school in their early years. 
By the time the group reaches fifteen, 80,000 will have dropped 
out and only 5,000 have become members of the church. The drop 
begins about thirteen and continues at a low level from fifteen to 
twenty-two, when through revivals, right marriages, early home 
training reasserting itself, etc., the number goes back up quite a bit. 
(A religious leader.) 


Il. THe ReEticious LEADER AND THE Boy 


Assuming just a reasonably favorable home attitude toward 
religion, what happens at church to the boy? The answer depends 
on the religious leader. The Survey data show that the ability 
of the leader to participate in the boy’s world, his whole world, is 
most significant. If the boy likes his religious leader well enough, 
other things being equal, he will respond to any reasonable reli- 
gious teachings. 

But even with support from home and church leader, the data 
show that at a certain age, fifteen, sixteen, and later, boys grow 
restless and drop out of church attendance and participation in 


THE CHURCH 57 


large numbers. “We let the boys at fifteen get away from us, 
and then later put on campaigns to try to get them back. Why 
don’t we keep them, after we once have them?” 


Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Buddhist and others alike report 
difficulties in holding boys after the age of fifteen. All report com- 
mon factors to contend against. . First, the pull of friendship with 
non-church boys is tremendous. The latter call the former “sissy,” 
and the damage is done. Competition grows strong to do the 
heroic, but going to church is considered tame and non-heroic, from 
the standpoint of the boys’ world. -It does not compare for a 
moment with a trip to an amusement park, a neighborhood esca- 
Dade, Ol a mlatk: alate at nicht: 


Again, the week-end trip planned by tired parents breaks up 
the boy’s church habits. These prevail in summer and often con- 
tinue all winter. The fact that parents cease to go to church raises 
questions in the boy’s mind and he declares that he “doesn’t have 
to go either.” This is a real dilemma. The week-day pace of civ- 
ilization is being speeded up at such an increasing rate that parents 
want to get as far away from it on as many week-ends as possible. 
The result breaks up what church-going habits either parents or 
children may have, 


Further, all religious organizations report a dearth of leaders 
for boys. The leaders cannot be found, or else they are so ill-pre- 
pared or so lacking in understanding of the problems before them 
that they do religion almost as much harm as good. The report: 
“IT spend a few minutes in preparation for my Sunday work or my 
boys’ club” (week night meeting) tells only a part of the truth. 
Often these few minutes are snatched from the pressure of many 
other and seemingly more urgent undertakings. After the first 
excitement of directing a club or teaching a class wears off, the 
tendency is strong to rely on one’s ingenuity at the spur of the 
moment. The boy quickly recognizes the “bluffing,’ and develops 
a similar attitude. 


Church leaders, moreover, often have little idea of how to 
handle behavior problems. Order in a boys’ class is frequently 
missing, and yet boys object because of the disorder they them- 
selves create. The church leader is unacquainted with most of the 
recent developments in child psychology, and is unaware of his 
lack. At these points pastors could increase their efficiency in 
working with boys. 


“Bad boys” are especially troublesome. The church leader, ' 
even a pastor, has difficulty in solving behavior problems. He may 
have but one prescription, and that may not work. Boys who are | 
“trouble-makers” are “put out of the class” and drop out of the 
church. He “failed,” it is said, whereas the church also failed to 
make good in developing a point of contact with him and in keep- 
ing him. 


58 TEES BON VIN CELE L 


The most successful church leader of boys is the one who 
keeps in touch “with all the activities of those whom he is leading.” 
The training of church leaders for boys is woefully lacking. Almost 
anyone who will volunteer is accepted, and the results are weak. 
A paid recreation director and community organizer for each 
church of size would be desirable. 


Story-telling is especially difficult, because “Bible stories won't 
do.” The boy knows the story before the teacher begins. He has 
already heard it many times. The story must be new and from 
daily life, even as Jesus selected His stories. 


186. Story-telling on the part of the leader is an important 
element in this Junior Church service, and the boys and girls often 
beg for the story to be told before the singing and other prelimi- 
naries. (A church leader.) 


187. Every church should have such a group, but ere is no 
one capable of leading them, few are trained, we can’t get leaders, 
so what are we to do about it? (A pastor.) 


188. The Sunday school teachers were irregular in attendance, 
and that’s something that will killa class. If I were taking charge 
of our morning service, I would cut out the long-winded prayers. 
(A boy.) 

189. .I seldom go upon the playground myseli—I just can’t 
find the time—and we have no playground director, which is a 
very bad situation. There is really a serious doubt in my mind if 
we should have a playground at all without some sort of a director. 
(A pastor.) 

190. We exchange experiences. Every boy daily has some- 
thing new happen to him. I believe that in the future we will 
exchange our experiences more than depend on a preacher to pour 
all our religion upon us. (A boys’ worker.) 


191. We have an enormous problem—just as most churches 
do—with the boys. Here’s a boy that’s too active and wants to 
boss everything; we have to sort of hold him in check. And then 
there 1s the indifferent boy who is inclined to be lazy; he’s a prob- 
lem. ‘Then there’s the boy who knows more than his teacher, 
consequently he doesn’t want to pay attention, and he disturbs the 
rest. The only way to handle such a boy is to give him a special 
assignment. And then there is the boy who is too quiet. The 
biggest problem, though, is that of holding the boys after we get 
them. (A pastor.) 


192. ‘The teacher of this particular class understands boys 
very well and has won their confidence because he has not been 
dictatorial. He gives the boys a chance to tell the things on their 
minds, and he even gives them a few minutes at the end of the 
lesson period for jokes. He is a boy with them; and the boys are 
fast becoming their own disciplinarians. If one boy suggests that 
he’d like to tell a joke before the lesson is over, the other boys are 


PAE CHURCH 39 


the ones to tell him to be quiet until joke time comes. He com- 
mends them for the good things they do. (A pastor.) 


193. I think that if we had a good boys’ director we could 
get most of these boys, at least 350, to spend their spare time in 
the church. That is one of the things that we need most; a boys’ 
director. But so far we have been unable to get one, due in the 
first place to financial difficulties, and in the second place that we 
have no one capable of filling the place. But we need some fellow 
who can go out and get the boys interested and guide them over 
this dangerous adolescent period. (A pastor.) 


Il]. THe Recreation HAtyu 


No place in which to provide for boys’ activities is a frequent 
report, sometimes varied by an added emphasis upon having no 
facilities or inadequate facilities. A few adults in many churches 
recognize the need, but the many do not. When a church begins 
to think of providing boys’ recreation, it finds land values so high 
that the boys’ needs cannot be met. Where boys are thickest and 
most in need, the church is most handicapped in this particular. 
Where there is a playground equipment and a recreation hall, there 
is often little money to maintain them. ‘Too many churches fear 
the situation of the one who put all its money into a recreation 
building and then had to close it because of having no further funds 
to operate it, and as a result do little or nothing for boys, when as 
a matter of fact boys like to have things done in a big way with a 
swing to it. | 

194. There are more boys in this community than in any 
other community that I know of. There are lots more boys than 
girls, but the trouble is we lack rooms. (A church worker.) 


195. The enrollment of boys in our Sunday school—espe- 
cially the younger ones—is at a very low ebb. That is mostly 
because we have no facilities; we haven’t enough room for them, 
and no facilities for their activities. Having a church membership 
of three thousand, as we do, we ought to have many more boys in 
our Sunday school. (A church worker.) 


196. We haven’t a thing in our church for boys except Sun- 
day school classes. [We asked him if they had motion pictures on 
Sunday evenings.] Motion pictures on Sunday nights? I should 
say not! What we have is a forty-five to fifty minute sermon on 
Sunday nights! And that certainly isn’t attractive to boys. (A 
boy.) 

197. But we haven’t much of a place for boys’ athletic activi- 
ties; the boys want a gym, but that would be quite an expense, so 
we can't have it for a while, at least. On account of the expense 
involved we can’t have a room that is used just for a gymnasium. 
We can hardly expect boys to be interested when we have no place 
for them. You know that when you invite a person into your 
home they naturally expect that you'll have room to entertain them. 


60 TEE, BOOST IN pall Eile, 


It’s the same with the church; the boys expect us to have a place 
for them when we invite them here, and really, at present, we have 
almost no place to invite them to. (A boys’ worker.) 


198. The only people who can go on the playgrounds are 
organizations; we don’t let just a few individuals go on just to fool 
around. The playground is kept under lock and key; that is the 
only safeguard we have. They must sign up for the use of it before 
they can have the key. Then, anything that happens during the 
time they are on the grounds, that organization must be responsible 
for it. Some of the boys have been disappointed when they have 
come and asked for the key and we wouldn't let them have it. 
Well, just two or three boys would come and want to go on the 
playground, and there wasn’t anyone we could hold responsible 
for anything that happened. We must have a director some day— 
I don’t know how soon that will be, though—but we can’t go on 
this way for long. (A pastor.) 


IV. Mortrion PicruRES IN THE CHURCH 


The church’s experiments with moving pictures are interest- 
ing. Boys like movies, but they don’t like old ones that have 
already been shown several times at commercial theatres. New, 
first-class ones, however, are too expensive for the ordinary church 
to afford. Most churches have poor places in which to show pic- 
tures, and this detracts greatly from the effect of the pictures. The 
appointments are so poor and contrast so unfavorably with the 
comforts of a motion picture theater that boys refuse to go. 


Sometimes the complaint is made that no spirit of worship 
exists; again, that the program is passive and does not provide 
sufficient activity for a real boys’ program. Sometimes the pictures 
are “cut” too much—taking all the life out of them, and again, they 
are inappropriate for religious purposes. 


199. Their program includes a Sunday evening motion pic- 
ture, as well as 2:30, 7:00 and 8:00 “shows”.on Tuesdays and 
Fridays. There is an admission charge of ten cents per person, to 
cover the cost of the picture. (A church worker.) 


200. But there is nothing for the children to do at these pro- 
grams. The picture gets them all worked up emotionally and 
makes them feel that they want to do something, and then there 
is nothing for the children to do. If we could make them feel that 
they are part of the service, if we could give them something to do, 
they would feel that it was theirs. For example, if we could have 
a children’s choir or something like that, it would give them some- 
thing to do. The minister can’t preach a sermon that gets across 
to adults and children at the same time, so he has to preach to the 
adults, and the children just sit and squirm. (A boys’ worker.) 

201. ‘There was music during the showing of the picture; and 
a talk—‘How Big Are You?’’—was inserted in the middle of the 
picture. In his brief talk of ten or fifteen minutes the minister 


Pit CHURCH 61 


referred frequently to “you boys and girls” and “you young peo- 
ple.’ He talked directly to them. - While the picture was not 
solely a boy’s picture, there were parts in it that appeal to boys, 
such as the time when the ragged little boy on the seat of his 
mother’s wagon of vegetables “takes a shot” at the cop with his 
sling shot. 


There was a noticeable percentage of boys and young people 
present, most of the younger ones being accompanied by their 
parents. Perhaps the main reason why there were so many boys 
and young people at the service was due to the fact that this is a 
neighborhood church, and the distance from the homes of the 
people to the church was just a comfortable walk. 


There is an advantage in having the entire congregation join 
in the Scripture reading and the prayer, for, in so doing, they get 
the spirit of worship. The children, too, learn to participate in 
the worship because of the widespread example set by the older 
ones in the congregation. (A church worker.) 


V. CHURCH PROGRAMS FOR Boys 


Individual churches, however, are making remarkable strides 
in providing for the natural needs of their young people. The 
problem arises: Shall the facilities for recreation be thrown open 
to the community, or be kept for the young people of the particu- 
lar church? ‘The first idea leads to reckless and unappreciative 
use and even destruction of the facilities, and the latter is narrow. 
A compromise involving the merits of both is probably advisable. 


To plan a complete week-day program for the leisure hours of 
boys gives the church a new and practical function. The young 
people’s society, run by young people, has an appeal not pos- 
sessed by an adult-run Sunday School. A special building dedicated 
to community service is excellent. A class for teaching child 
psychology to parents is a practical expression of religion, espe- 
cially when, without this knowledge, well-meaning prayerful parents 
are driving their own sons away “from religion by their ignorance 
of methods. A clinic in an industrial district (with 7000 patients 
accommodated in a single year) demonstrates that the sick may 
still be healed in the name of religion. “We give the boys some- 
thing to do all of them, all the time,” and “the boys like to be 
busy,” are encouraging so far as they go. 


The Boy Scouts program with its wide range of activities, the 
Christian Citizenship program of the Y. M. C. A. with its empha- 
sis on religious teachings and beliefs, and the Big Brothers with 
its opportunities for personal service in solving boys’ conflicts 1nd1- 
cate a better day ahead, but the dawn of such a day has scarcely 
yet appeared. 


202. When we set out to build a new church the first thing 
we do is to get a building committee. The first job of the church 
is to build Christian character, and the Boys’ Work Committee 





62 LEE BOM GUN sbi 3G ley 


ought to be more important than any buildings committee. The 
first steps in forming this committee are: 


1. Size—from three to five members. 


2. How to select members from those interested in boys, from 
the brotherhood, pastor, Sunday School superintendent, nominat- 
ing committee, or sapekes tena by an individual « as pastor, or by the 
official board. 


3. Type of persons suitable—perhaps a woman, if of the 
right type, for I remember hearing it said of a teacher: “She is the 
best bovs’ worker in the school,” men of influence interested in 
boys, and two boys on the committee to help get the right gels: 
the boys want. 


4. Functions: These can be summed up in Properties, Pro- 
gram, and Personnel. 

a. To secure suitable space and equipment. 

b. To keep in touch with all boys’ activities. 

c. To check up on the leaders and to encourage them. 

d. To plan a comprehensive program; to arrange for inter- 
church activities. 

e. To secure adequate leaders and to provide training for 
them. 

f. ‘To provide boys with a working library. 

g. To handle finances. 

h. ‘To outline the objectives of the club. 

Something that should be definitely included in the program: 
Attractive church services to boys. 
Definite church duties, as ushering, etc. 
Father and Son, and Mother and Son banquets, interview, 
co-operation. 

4. Social and athletic affairs. 

5. »Sex education; 

6. Vocational guidance. 

Interviews with business men. 

Educational trips of interest and guidance. (A boys’ worker.) 

Then we have preparatory classes —teaching mothers the 
principles of child psychology, discussing the problems of their 
boys with them, and so on. This is new in our church; it is not 
in any other church that I know of. (A church worker.) 


203. ‘The playground is open daily from three to five in the 
afternoon and from seven to nine in the evening, under good super- 
vision. We have two objectives in our playground. The first is 
to meet the recreational needs of the community there, and second 
to serve as a recruiting ground for the various boys’ groups we 
have in the church. Then the playground director reveals in his 
own conduct the Christianity that we are trying to make known. 
(A boys’ worker.) 


204. The building is planned for services, and not for service. 
There is little or no place that the boys or young men can use 


WN 


DBE CHORCH 63 


for fear of the Official Board or Ladies’ Aid. The adults absolutely 
run the plant and program with utter disregard for the desires or 
wishes of the younger ones. I realize the adults pay the bills, but 
it is because they know what the money goes for. Was the need 
or plan of the church ever put up to the young people? No/ 
(A church worker.) 


205. This church is in a new and growing community, and 
is apparently just becoming a center where boys and girls gather 
during their leisure hours. We feel that this is explained not only 
by the fact that this is a neighborhood church but also because 
pictures that appeal to children, and especially to boys, are being 
shown. (A pastor.) 


206. We need more playgrounds. We have the church and 
school combined, and we ought to have the leisure hours and play- 
grounds coupled up with the church and school playground direc- 
tor. We can’t afford the playground, because our churches are 
in popular centers where land is too high for playgrounds. The 
theory is good, but is economically too expensive. (A pastor.) 


207. Then each group develops its own program. Last night, 
for instance, one of the groups presented a sort of play that they 
had worked out—the Wide and Narrow Road—and it was very, 
very good. They also prepare themselves with short speeches 
that they deliver at their meetings; and then they prepare their 
own music, too; in fact, they make all their programs them- 
selves. (A church worker.) 


208. There is a very great interest in the Young People’s 
Society ; it is just as important as the Sunday school, and in a way 
even more so. The latter is run by adult teachers and officers, 
chiefly, but in the Young Peoples’ Society the entire cabinet is 
composed of young people, and the meetings are carried on by the 
young people. The discussion is freer, and a large majority of 
selected topics is used. “You parents should get behind your boys 
and girls more and talk more about the advantages of this society.” 
(A boy.) 

Z09>, ~Oh! I “gotta] be-here. I’ve gotta do something every 
Sunday, and it wouldn’t get done if I wasn’t here. I ‘gotta’ come.” 
We had appointed him one of the ushers to see that everyone got 
seated and to see that the books were placed around on the chairs. 
He suggested: “If you’d give ’em all something to do lke you 
gave me, you'd have ’em all here on Sunday morning. Maybe if 
you'd get up a band or a choir, or something like that, they'd 
come because they had something to do.” (A boy.) 


210. Perhaps the secret of the success of a boys’ club in 
any church is the appointment of an efficient sub-committee from 
among the boys, who will plan and organize the work carefully. 
Careful preparation is absolutely essential. We should be building 
around a Christian leader a group of boys who are learning to 
express leadership among themselves. The adult leader is more 





64 DHE “BOW GINGDITEEG TEN. 


of a counselor, and the boys themselves are the leaders of the gang. 
If you can split a group of boys into about four competitive groups, 
each with its leader, you'll be able not only to build up each group, 
but also to develop leadership among them. (A church worker.) 


211. We have a sort of messenger service. - That is, we have 
appointed seven boys—and we will keep the number quite limited 
for a while, at least, because then they feel that it is more of an 
honor to get into it—as church messengers. Their duties will be 
to take messages from the church to the various people on our 
constituency. We will buy the boys caps or something of that 
sort to give them a little distinction. For example, there is a very 
large apartment house going up over here on the corner. When 
that is completed, we. will probably want to send letters and 
announcements to. many of the families over there, so we will send 
messengers over with them. We might appoint one boy to this 
apartment house, who will keep us informed on all the families 
moving in and out. This will give the boys good training in social | 
contacts, in personal work, and personal courtesy. They will learn 
much in this way that doesn’t come in the ordinary Sunday school 
lesson or even. in-.the: training they. get at home.” «(As chured 
worker. ) 


212. ‘The parents were won when they came in contact with 
our clinic. We accommodated about seven thousand patients last 
year. ‘The parents saw a spirit of helpfulness and brotherhood, 
and their co-operation and good will was secured. Of course, the 
difficulty lies in the fact that we have done no work for the adult 
immigrant population. Some social agencies have the idea that all 
foreign customs must be stamped out or that no attention should 
be paid them. Our workers have always tried to foster a sense of 
pride in foreigners for their native customs, traditions, and make 
them feel that they have something to contribute to our great 
melting pot. We are planning a festival when all our foreign races 
can have a celebration similar to our Fourth of July. True Ameri- 
canism means a fusion of cultures. (A pastor.) 


213. Ihave found that one of the biggest boy problems in our 
churches is that of athletic clubs. It becomes a problem when 
too many outsiders come in. The difficulty is that these athletic 
groups become mere athletic clubs and no more. I believe in get- 
ting outsiders in the clubs and all that, but that is just where the 
problem arises. These boys come into our athletic clubs and 
activities and they become leaders; they come to the Sunday school 
classes and become leaders there, too; but they come only during 
the season that the athletic contests are on, and when the season 
is over they drop out, and, consequently, the clubs and Sunday 
school classes are left without leaders. I do believe that these 
boys’ clubs should be community-wide, but I think that they should 
center mainly in the church. I see the value of these physical 
activities, however. I have been a physical education director 


PH hGHURCH 65 


myself, and I can very readily see the value in athletic clubs, but I 
think that the church should be a little more strict in admitting 
members to these clubs. (A church worker.) 


VI. CHurcH PoLicy AND THE Boy 
Surely, church policy needs to give a large place to the boy. 
It needs to observe all the laws of child psychology and sociology. 
It needs to reach back to church architecture and forward to com- 
munity building. If a church would do enough for boys, as boys, 
its doors would be swarming with boys. 


The boy is rational. He not only asks questions, but must 
have an answer that “sounds right.” To be told that the Bible 
Says so does not satisfy the majority of boys today. The Bible 
itself is judged by the boys’ common-sense standards. | 


Too many churches have the policy of doing things for boys 
in order “to get them on their church roll.” This overlooks the 
larger ideal of helping boys solve their problems for their own 
sakes. The boy will naturally turn toward whatever renders him 
genuine service, providing such service is not accompanied by 
repugnant stimuli, such as religious nagging or too much direct 
preaching. Just plain service in helping boys solve their personal 
problems is needed, with a religious atmosphere indirectly 
developed. 

Few churches have ever made a survey or study of their 
boys. Little initiative has been shown in studying boys’ religious 
problems, the boy’s own worlds, or boys’ religious attitudes. Pro- 
grams are imposed by adults; the boys are not understood, and 
the boy slips out from religious supervision. 

The downtown church has special problems. Parents “live 
out,” and if they are not coming to the church, do not let their 
children attend. But if no boys’ program is offered, the “urchins 
of the street” are neglected—these are the boys most in need and 
likely to become anti-social adults. 


There is a genuine need for religious and moral training of 
youth. Boys with a consistent religious training cause little trou- 
ble in school or neighborhood. They rarely fall into the hands of 
probation officers. But absence of, or divorce from a broad and 
vital religious training is a condition from which boys come who 
reach the courts. 

214. I don’t like to go into church, because he preaches too 
long. (A boy.) 

215. But the big failure of the church—and we might just as 
well admit it—is the failure to hold boys when we do get them. 
Why? (A church worker.) 


216. I always liked our preacher, because he took an interest 
in us and tried to make things interesting for the boys. (A boy.) 
217. Our problem boys are mostly children of too wealthy 
parents. They have everything done for them; in fact, they have 


66 TH EB ONS Ge bt rey, 


so much done for them that they don’t appreciate what the church 
can do. (A boys’ worker.) 


218. Well, a church is a place where you go and learn to say 
prayers so that you can say them awful fast. Sure, that 1s good 
for you. It makes you feel good. (A boy.) 


219. We have noticed that the boy who has broken away from 
the synagogue is much harder to control than the one who still 
adheres to religion and attends “cheder.”’ (A parent.) 


220. After a series of discussions it was agreed that our 
church work was of a Christ-like character and that, by diverting 
the boys from undesirable activities and converting their energies 
along useful lines, we were accomplishing our aims. (A church 
worker.) 

221. We have a good deal of difficulty, though, in planning 
our new church. The trouble is, architects don’t know what we 
want. They have the idea that if they plan a fine auditorium our 
needs will be met. They don’t know what to plan to fill the educa- — 
tional needs of youth. .(A church worker.) 


222. No, I don’t believe in putting the church and school and 
play together. We ought to develop moral and spiritual character 
enough in the church and school so that the rest of the time the 
boy could bump up against the world and go straight. If we com- 
bine the church, the school and play, the boy won't have a chance 
to become a good: citizen] (Atpastor,) 


223. I want to live so that when you see me you will say: 
“There goes a Jew, yet he is a better Christian than I am,” and I 
want you to so live that when I see you I will say: “That man is 
a Christian, but he is a better Jew than I am.” If all the families 
we deal with held the same attitude, there would be less religious 
prejudice. (A pastor.) 

224. Ifa pastor tells you not to do something in his sermon, 
and you know that the next day you are going out to work and 
you have to do what he told you is not right, what in the world 
are you going to do about it? It is just the conditions of the busi- 
ness world that force you to do it when you know that it is not 
right, and yet if you don’t do it you don’t have a job. Hundreds of 
people are doing this, and it is bothering me a whole lot. I don’t 
know what to do. (A boy.) 


225. Young people need more attention from the church than 
they are now getting, and more than you older people got when 
you were young, because now there are a hundred times as many 
divertisements as you had to face at the age of eighteen or nine- 
teen. Nearly everything is calling us away from the church. It 
is true that you can live a Christian life outside of the church, but 
a lot of people cannot, and so those who can ought to get inside 
and set a good example. For, after all, Christian life with the aid 
of the church is the best example to set. (A boy.) 


LEISURE TIME | 67 


CEE BER: 
The Boy and Leisure Time 


From the close of school until evening and bedtime, large num- 
bers of city boys are without adequate supervision. The leisure 
hours are being filled with innumerable commercial attractions, 
run primarily for profit to a few, rather than primarily for boys’ 
welfare. Every afternoon and evening, and particularly on Satur- 
days and Sundays, these “attractions” operate in full force, using 
unlimited and skillfully designed appeals. Boys are now living 
more and more as neighborhood and community denizens, and 
wandering aimlessly into trouble, seeking new and bigger thrills. 


Boys like adventure, perhaps more than all things else. Com- 
mercial amusements have recognized this fundamental urge and 
have played upon it until the modern boy’s love of excitement and 
desire to get a “thrill” out of life knows at times no bounds. The 
boy, like others, is often a victim of our jazz-made amusements. 


The rural boys of the past made their own amusements; today 
a city boy as a rule has to pay to obtain amusements, and, unfor- 
tunately, amusement of the nervous stimuli type. The money cost 
and the lack of physical development that boys secure from the 
omnipresent glaring amusement centers hold direct relations to 
each other. 


Some city environments, such as those associated with room- 
ing house districts, railroad yards, and the older industrial dis- 
tricts, are dangerous to boys’ welfare. Older boys, immoral 
women, dope peddlers, abound in these regions. A respectable 
appearance at day turns into “temptationdom” after dark, where 
boys roam in gangs. The gang problem.will be considered in the 
next chapter. 


226. Midnight comes earlier in the evening than it did forty 
years ago—there are so many more things going on now at night. 
Time passes more rapidly and there is more excitement. (A 
parent. ) 


227. It seems that boys do not care what the punishment is, 
but just want to go ahead and get the thrill out of life, and take 
the consequences later. (A boys’ worker.) 


228. Boys like adventure. For example, one of my cases is 
of a boy who stole a Ford and at the time had keys in his pocket 
to his father’s big car and small car, both, and could have had either 
one. (A boys’ worker.) 


229. I hope the time never comes when a fellow can buy a 
radio all together; it is much better for him to buy the parts and 


68 HE (BOPPN eo eer y 


make his own. It keeps him out of trouble, but also provides an 
avenue of learning and interest. (A boy’s mother.) 


230. When I was young, anyone could give a party and all 
would have a good time; now we must pay to be amused. If we 
want to enjoy ourselves, we pay to go to the movies, or pay to go 
on the jack rabbit, or pay to go to a dance, and all the good recre- © 
ation is commercialized. No longer do we find our recreation in 
physical activity, but more and more we are turning to nervous 
stimuli, and the human system can’t stand it. (A boys’ worker.) 


I. BuMMING AROUND 


The amount of idle bumming around characteristic of city 
boys today constitutes a tremendous social waste. Children of 
parents on the lower economic levels “run the streets and get into 
trouble.” The wealthier ones drive big cars and try hard to 
RCCL VAG 

One boy suggests a “prank,” and several others go along, 
with the result that the “weakest” to escape are caught, but they 
will not “snitch” on the guilty ones. “Nothing to do” leads boys 
into situations where they are in effect accomplices and likely to 
be apprehended as the main parties. Police or neighbors do not 
make fine distinctions—what the worst boy does is charged up 
to the whole gang, or to the ones who are caught. 

“Bumming around” means irregular meals, and usually poor 
nutrition. Roving habits make uneasy boys in school, and truancy 
creates more truancy. Roving leads the boys out farther and 
farther,—‘‘hopping freights to Fresno,” or “begging a ride to Tia 
Juana,” or “taking a car for a joy ride.” “Nothing to do” is the 
danger sign for neighborhood boys. 


231. The younger generation is full of energy, and there is 
no outlet, no wholesome substitute for dance halls, movies, pleas- 
ure; there is no adequate counterbalance, (A teacher.) 


232. Some of these boys are a transitory and roving lot. If 
the fever takes them, they will hop a freight and off they go. I 
would not miss them, and suddenly one day they will be back 
playing ,and then I shall realize that they have been gone. “Where 
did you go?” “Oh, I hopped a freight up to Fresno.” (A play- 
ground worker.) 

233. The boys in America do not seem to have as much 
ambition and desire to succeed as do the boys in Japan or those 
who have just come to this country. I believe that this is caused 
by the general atmosphere of freedom and desire for pleasure that 
seems to dominate the hfe of most Americans, Our American- 
born Japanese get just as lazy as the American boys. (A boys’ 
worker.) 

234. He wants the crowd he runs with to be impressed, so 
he drives a little faster, runs a few more risks, grows more reck- 
less, until presently he’s either killed or worn out. Somehow, our 


LEISURE TIME 69 


youth should be taught not to be so prodigal of their enjoyments, 
for in the years to come things will pall on their sated appetites. 
(A girl.) 

235. I find that the main reason why some boys get into 
trouble in connection with the property of the public library is that 
they have nothing else to do. For instance, there is the case of 
a bunch of boys I got in touch with, who told me definitely the 
reason why they hang around public libraries was that there was 
nothing else they could do. I found there was no playground in 
their neighborhood for at least two miles around in any direction. 
(A boys’ worker.) 


236. Of course, W is naturally restless, because there 
doesn’t seem to be very much for a boy to do at night. So when- 
ever he does go out at night he goes and hangs around a little 
refreshment stand near the Theatre, because there is'a girl 
there that he knows and he stays with for a while at the refresh- 
ment stand. I’ve asked him not to go there, but he always says, 
“Why, what’s the matter with going down there at night? I never 
do anything but just talk. And what else is there to do for a fel- 
low at night? A fellow has to have some time out for recreation.” 
(A parent.) 


237. One of our biggest problems is that of keeping the fel- 
lows who are “dandy kids,’ but who do not have very much 
backbone and will of their own, from being led astray by some 
fellow who is quite a leader but who has no moral fiber himself. 
It beats all how it works, for if one fellow who is just off shade a 
little gets in with»a group who do not have any particular con- 
victions, the whole group becomes bums. (A boys’ worker.) 


238. One day two kids crawled into a box car and went to 
sleep in it. Before they woke up the door was closed and they 
could not “raise” anyone. Presently the train hooked onto the 
car and they were shipped up to Fresno, and were up there about 
two days before they made anyone hear them. They were in this 
car for about four and one-half days. It cured some of them from 
trying to bum rides that way. Now they always put something in 
the door, so that it can’t be closed on them. (A boys’ worker.) 








Il, Tuer AUTOMOBILE 


The automobile is the undoing of many a boy. The conflict 
starts in the home with parents who object to the late hours 
and to rides to the beaches. With the automobile at his command, 
the boy easily speeds up beyond home control. The parents are 
often to blame in buying cars for their boys, and again, if they do 
not do so, the boy may work for one, or steal one, or several. 
The desire “to have a car” is great; the social pressure upon boys 
to take girls to parties in cars is almost beyond comprehension. 

The automobile is a thing of speed; and speeding is a natural 
result. Adult men find it hard to resist the temptation, and boys 


70 LOE BOYS INS CH EAe Li 


without the self-control of age are especially thrilled by “stepping 
on it.” The endangering of lives of children and older pedestrians, 
accidents to themselves, and to automobiles—so runs the tale. 


The evils of “begging rides” by boys cannot be revealed by 
statistics. To give boys rides is an encouragement to vagrancy, 
to truancy, and even to stealing. Boys get the “begging rides” 
habit. They “string out” or break up in twos and threes, and thus 
secure rides, even asa gang. “Boys are begging rides to every- 
where now’’—is literally true, and kindly adults, who give them 
rides are helping to make delinquents and criminals. 


Begging a ride to the beach, “hooking a bit to eat,” falling in 
with other boys and bumming around for the day; and then, in 
order to get home with “as little trouble as possible,” a Ford is 
stolen. Starting out on an innocent jaunt, and ending in jail—is 
not uncommon for a boy who is “begging a ride.’ Motorists with 
“hearts bigger than their brains” are partly responsible. Golfers 
are particularly tender regarding giving boys rides “out to the 
golf course.’ 


The danger of accidents to boys who are begging rides is high. 
The boy almost invariably stands out in the thoroughfare, as near 
to the main line of traffic as possible. 


Begging rides is similar to begging nickels and street car fares. 
TttiSaawa Viento ets Dyn 

Business men and auto drivers generally are beginning to 
refuse rides to boys, but begging rides still goes on. When schools 
and parents succeed in teaching boys not to ,beg rides, and it 
becomes clear that boys begging rides are running into danger, the 
automobile public will be clear in its duty. 


The automobile is a temptation in another way—a thing to be 
stolen. The powerful urge to have a car accounts in part for auto- 
mobile thefts. The desire to have a joy ride, “to take out a girl,” 
leads to stealing small and big cars alike. Girls often refuse to 
go to a party on the street car, or in an inexpensive car. A girl’s 
friends are going in automobiles, and she cannot be disgraced. 
The boy meets the demand by “taking” a car to fit the occasion. 
The boy who had the keys in his pocket to both a small and large 
car belonging to his father, at the time he stole an automobile, was 
seeking a new thrill—life was too tame. 


Boys make a distinction between taking cars for a joy ride 
and for the purpose of selling the parts. The first is not stealing; 
it is just “taking.” Adults who boast of “rake-offs,’ “beating the 
game,’ being “hard-boiled” in financial dealings, “speculating,” 
“taking big risks,” are partly responsible for boys’ disrespect for 
property. Boys like to take “big risks,” too, and “get away with 
it,’ the same as grown-ups do. 


The role of the automobile in leading to illicit sex relations 
between boys and girls is becoming understood. The exhilarating 


LEISURE TIME 7] 


effect of speeding along, the freedom, the sport or stripped car 
psychology, the entire absence of supervision, “the short, beltless 
dresses about the knees,” the late hours, “the bodily excitation of 
the dance,” and sometimes the liquor, and then—illicit sex rela- 
tions of youth follow. 


I know positively that 25 per cent of our truants are such be- 
cause of being able to get rides in autos. (A boys’ worker.) 


239. ‘There would not be very much truancy if people would 
not give the boys rides. (A teacher.) 


240.. I was sent here for truancy. I would play hookey; I 
don’t like to go to school. Lots of times I start to school all right 
but go off with some of the boys to the beach or some place. We 
bum rides mostly. (A boy.) 


241. The auto is a very great benefit to man, but we do not 
know just how to use it. We get out and speed, going faster 
than the nervous system can stand. Almost every boy in this 
school has an auto at his disposal some time during the week, and 
he is going to get out in it and go. And it is a cinch he is not go- 
ing alone. Then he has to go for miles before he can see anything 
but streets and streets and more streets. (A boy.) 


242. They want to drive a great high-powered machine at 
breakneck speed; they want to tear around half the night and get 
into all kinds of devilment, when it is only the developing man 
inside of them that is crying for release; it is a natural physical 
proposition, just as eating and getting fresh air is. (A _ boys’ 
worker.) | 


BEGGING AUTOMOBILE RIDES 


243. For several days during one vacation we went out to 
Universal City every day. We got together and started. We sep- 
arated into twos and caught rides, and then got together out here 
again. We sneaked into one studio and were finding all kinds of 
things, and each one of us had one of those wooden swords they 
use in the movies, and a bunch of stuff, and suddenly a man came 
chasing after us and we went on the tear. (A boy.) 


244. From the motorist point of view we think it bad policy 
to give boys lifts, for if any accident occurs, the driver is respon- 
sible if it was caused in any way by his negligence, and it is hard 
for him to prove his innocence in such a case. Also, a short time 
back a man gave some boys a lift out on the edge of the desert, 
but the boys were not satisfied, and rapped him over the head, and 
buried him out on the desert, and went merrily on their way, to be 
apprehended at T — and sent through life in a hurry, electro- 
cuted, /-believe) (A \ parent.) 

245. Every Sunday we have from 25 to 50 lost “kids.” Their 
parents call in here, wanting to know where Johnny is. Some 
motorist with his heart bigger than his brains has given the “kid” 
a lift down to the beach. The boy spent all his money down 





vif THE BOYOING TEE yey. 


there, failed to get a ride back, and slept on the sand. The V. 
cops picked him up asleep on the sand, and we have the job of 
connecting him up again. (A police woman.) 


246. You can’t go out to West W without being flagged 
at least a dozen times for rides; some of the fellows are twelve 
to fourteen, others up to men. You can generally figure that you 
are doing the kid no good by picking him up, for if he is going 
some place where his parents approve, they have furnished him 
with money to get there. (A boys’ worker.) 

247. A service club member, going to the beach, saw a boy 
begging for a ride, felt sympathetic toward him and picked him up. 
At the beach the boy bummed around by himself for a while, and 
finally fell in with some other boys who also had been successful 
in begging rides. One of the others suggested stealing some food, 
which they did. At night they wanted to get back, but instead of 
begging rides back, decided that it would be simpler to steal a 
Ford, and all ride in together. On the way in they were arrested, 
and the next day the first boy, who had started out innocently 
begging a ride, had a court record, as did, of course, the other boys 
(A parent.) 

248. We do not want any funds from any organization, but 
we would like to have the members of every service club in Los 
Angeles help us to acltieve a few things. First of all, to have them 
stop giving rides to any boy. I know that many say, “I will just 
give this boy a lift out to the golf links, where he is going to 
caddy.” But I am just behind him and do not know that the boy 
is going to caddy, and the next time a boy flags me I feel mean 
with myself unless I give the boy a ride, for did not the Rotarian 
pick up a boy? And as far as the kid is concerned, if he can get 
rides to any golf course, he will try to get rides to the beach and 
wherever he may want to go. (A boys’ worker.) 


249. Then boys are begging rides to everywhere now. This 
has a very decided influence upon the boys’ morals. I know of 
some kids in the elementary grades who had picked up rides until 
they had gotten to P before they were apprehended. Then 
boys twelve years of age and older are getting rides to San Fran- 
cisco, going as far as each driver goes, arriving there with no 
money except what they can beg or earn in stray ways, or steal. 
Boys are also begging rides to the beaches, and in fact anywhere 
it may strike their fancy to go. (A boys’ worker.) 











STEALING AUTOMOBILES 


250. Saw a Ford with a key in it. I took the key and sallied 
forth and used the key for another Ford, and started off to look tor 
a job. I was caught and put in the city jail. (A boy.) 

251. Wealthy boys frequently steal cars for joy rides; mostly 
Fords and Chevrolets, because these are usually left unlocked, and 
there are so many of them. If a boy’s friends have cars and take 


LEISURE TIME 73 


the girls to parties, then the boy without one feels that he must 
steal one in order to satisfy his girl, who also wants to go in an 
automobile. (A boys’ worker.) 


252. He had gone out at night and, seeing a car, had just 
gotten into it and off he went—to ditch it whenever he tired or 
when it ran out of gas. This is generally the case where the boy 
does not have a car at home and where he wants to “make out” as 
if he had one, and so he just takes one that appeals to him. (A 
boys’ worker.) 


253. Almost all of the cases of auto theft are with kids, fel- 
lows about eighteen, but many go down to thirteen quite fre- 
quently, for they begin young today. I do not know what is wrong 
with the boys of this generation. Many boys today do not seem 
to give a care about anything. (A police worker.) 


254. The girls do not want to ride in Fords. They want nice, 
expensive, good-looking cars. The boy aims to satisfy the girl, 
as is the law among men, and he steals automobiles, accessories, 
tires, etc. Many girls, too, have nothing else to do, nothing to 
absorb their time and interest, and many petting parties go on in 
the open, in automobiles, but few at home. (A boys’ worker.) 


255. The fellow without a car can’t take his girl, and the girl 
won't go with a fellow who does not have a car. Consequently a 
boy, in order to shine with the belles, has to have a car, and the 
easiest way to get one is to just take it. This stealing of cars is 
almost always bound up with some girl, sooner or later, or some- 
where in the deal. The boy may not always say so, but it is. (A 
boys’ worker.) 


256. Then one night one of our night men saw one of our 
insured cars that we were looking for going merrily down the 
street, and-he took after it. Before he caught up to it the machine 
was violently accelerated, and he kept after it, finally forcing him _ 
in to the curb and shooting into his gas tank. He pulled up along- 
side of the car, and the door opened, and out came a little kid 
about thirteen years old. (A police worker.) 

257. ‘Then a good many fellows swipe a car just to make a 
good impression on their girl. ‘They take the car, then give the girl 
a fine ride, and after they have left the young lady at her home, 
leave the car and go on home, ‘The girls are innocent parties to 
the thefts. Many of the cars we find in some side street, and the 
only thing we can suppose is that they were taken for a joy ride. 
I do not think that the boys expect to return the car before the 
owner calls for it, they do not figure that close. They either take 
a car for a joy ride or strip it. (A police worker.) 

258. About the time a boy gets into high school or along 
about fifteen to sixteen, it is pretty largely a moral problem that 
we have to deal with. Many of our fellows steal cars to take their 
girls out for rides, and are caught. I do not blame the boy, for he 

has to do it if he wants any kind of a girl at all. After their dances 


74 THE BON bNe DERG Diy 


and parties they almost always get into cars and go down to China- 
town to get some chop suey, or somewhere else. (A teacher.) 


259. A boy wants a Ford to take his girl out, but it costs fifty 
cents an hour to rent a Ford, and his parents won’t give him the 
money because they don’t want him running all over at all hours of 
the night, so he steals a tire and sells it to get money to rent a Ford 
to take his girl riding. Last week we had a case of a boy who stole 
a tire and put it down as a deposit on a Ford which he rented. 
Sometimes, even if a boy has a car of his own, he’ll steal another 
one and strip it and sell the parts in order to get money for the 
the girls. The demands of some girls today are something terrible. 
The fellow with money buys them everything, and the fellow 
without any has to steal in order to keep. up with the fellow who 
has money. (A boys’ worker.) | 

260. Some boys get into trouble because they hang around the 
dance halls. There are more boys and girls meeting at these places 
and outside of them, for the first time, than you would suppose. 
This is one of the starting points of trouble. I know of a boy who 
was taking a girl to a dance, but had only a Ford. All the other 
boys had bigger cars, so he hung around the men’s club, and when 
he saw a wealthy club member drive up and leave his car, the boy 
got into it and went off with this expensive automobile. A detec- 
tive happened to be standing by, and so he happened to trail the 
boy, and, before the evening was over, arrested him. The boy 
expected to get the car back before the owner would come for it. 
He wanted it so that he could make a good impression on the girl. 
He had no intentions of stealing it in the ordinary sense of the 
word, but nevertheless he had committed a very serious offense in 
the eyes of the law. (A boys’ worker.) 


THE AUTOMOBILE AND SEX PROBLEMS 


261. The “tough” boy who gets into repeated sex trouble 
usually tries to defend himself by saying that the girl leads him on 
by any one of a half a dozen wiles. She calls him a sissy if he 
does not meet her sex desires. They jump in an automobile and 
go off by themselves. There is no supervision, of course. Most 
illicit sex relations occur in this way. (A hoys’ worker.) 


262. ‘The automobile is very potent in the life of the young 
people. I think it is the most important factor in what might be 
called downright immorality; a couple get off into the country in 
some secluded spot, and there are very few people who would not 
be tempted. I do not think we can blame the young folks too 
much. (A boys’ worker.) 

263. ‘Then our autos; the couple go out for a ride, reach some 
secluded spot, and things go from bad to worse. Of course, that 
deals only with immorality. A fellow may steal and break all 
other laws, and be a perfect gentleman with a girl. But this per- 
petual spooning in all places leads to promiscuous relations. (A 
parent.) 


LEISURE TIME 75 


264. The auto has been a very great contributing factor in 
creating the problem boy. When young people get out in autos 
they always want to go as fast as the car will go, and that gives 
an exhilarating effect upon the occupants and tends to break 
down the barriers that before existed. Then I think these skele- 
ton cars are worse than the other type. Other things being equal, 
a couple in a sport car are more hable to step over the bounds 
than otherwise, simply because the car they are in is different, or 
a little off color, so to speak. (A boys’ worker.) 


265. After the party or the play, it is off to the beach, and 
then it is two or three before the couple are home again. I think 
the parents should be more careful, should know about when the 
party or play was to be over, and allow a reasonable time for Miss 
Mary to get home, and demand that she get there, and likewise 
Mr. John. Whenever auto rides are indulged in they ought to be 
awfully sure of the crowd that daughter or son are going with, and 
set a definite time, and insist that they are home by that time. (A 
parent.) 

266. Onhis nineteenth birthday he was pinched for stealing a 
car off the street. He told the judge it was his birthday, and his 
father would not let him use their machine, and he had a date 
with a girl, so he thought he would borrow a car. That same 
night he and his gang went on a “wild ride” to the country. The 
girls they had were not girls from their town, but girls passing 
through the town in a musical show. L had his first illicit 
sex relations. From that time on, for the next six months, he 
became worse in his attitude toward his home. His father finally 
heard of his relations with women and girls, and turned him over 
to the courts. The boy resented this act of his father’s very much. 
His mother became worse and refused to see the boy. The sisters 
would have nothing to do with their brother. (A boys’ worker.) 





AUTOMOBILES AND PARENTS 


267. You would be astounded if you knew some of the 
things that go on in this district of good homes. One father bought 
his two children, still in this elementary school, an automobile. 
They burnt out a bearing which cost $75.00. Father had auto 
repaired. The mother is worried every minute they are out in the 
ear. Still she says, “They are beyond our control; what can we 
do?” (A principal.) 

268. The machine is a very great factor in our boy problem. 
We have three boys whose parents we have asked not to let their 
boys drive to school. There are a few who come from quite a 
distance who drive cars to school, but we do not encourage it at 
all. ‘The machine is one of the biggest factors in immorality. 
(A principal.) 

269. I talk straight to my boy as to what he can do and what 
he can’t do, He is about eighteen years old, and gets in at 2:30 


76 HERO INGE Boi 


in the morning. I tell him that he has to get in at a reason- 
ble hour. Well, that’s about one o'clock, I should say. If he 
doesn’t get in at one, I tell him he can’t have the automobile again. 
The ordinary dances run till twelve o ‘clock, and he has to have an 
hour to get home, but if he takes until 2 :30 there is trouble brew- 
ing. How does he take it? All right? Does he stay home the 
next time, when I won’t let him have the car? No, he goes with 


some other boy and his girl. Does he get in at what you calla _. 


reasonable hour, one o’clock? No, 2:30. (A parent.) 


III. THe Runaway Boy 


Running away sometimes springs from the urge for adven- 
ture. Often it comes from what the boy considers unbearable 
home conditions—‘a father that beats me and a mother that you 
can’t please nohow. She isn’t my own mother, anyway.” Los 
Angeles and Hollywood as movie centers are especial attractions. 
The favorable climate of Los Angeles gives boys in other parts 
of the country the false impression that here you can live without 
working and sleep without a house. 


Many boys, on the other hand, are running awar from Los 
Angeles. The urge for adventure, and unpleasant home conditions 
and roving associates are again the leading factors. The habit of 
wandering, roving, “hoboing,’ develops early with many boys. 
Often emotional conflicts induced by home or school stimuli are 
sufficient to explain the runaway boy. Adjustment within and 
through the house or school by psychiatric social case workers 
or by wisly trained parents would serve as an excellent preventive, 


270. The runaway is dissatisfied at home, he has the movies 
in mind, the indifferent parents do not follow up the missing child, 
and he arrives here full of wonderful hopes about his adventure. 
It usually proves that he is without means, has no plans or friends, 
and that the campanions with whom he arrives have deserted him 
upon reaching the city. (A social worker.) 


271. We need a farm camp where boys can earn fifty cents a 
day. After they have earned a certain amount of money we could 
send them home, and we could invite them to return also. There 
are many runaway boys here whose parents are too poor to send 
us money for the return of the boy. They are arrested for 
vagrancy, and many are sent to Preston and Whittier. (A proba- 
tion officer.) 

272. He had about fifteen dollars when he arrived here. Six 
dollars of this he spent the first day, having a good time. He had 
been in the city ten days and had lost or spent every cent. He 
had slept the previous night in the bleachers of the H High 
School. (A boys’ worker.) 


273. Now, my father wouldn’t let me go out at night. One 


night my father, mother, sister and brother went out (to the neigh- 
bors). I didn’t want to go, so after they were gone for a while, a 





LEISURE TIME 77 


boy, sixteen, came over and got me. We went out. I knew that 
if I went out I would get into trouble, but I thought I would be 
back before they would, but I stayed out until eleven o’clock, and 
then I was afraid to go home because I knew my father was wait- 
ing td give mea beating. (A boy.) 

274. Some runaways travel in groups of two or three. One 
case brought to our attention by the Juvenile police was a young 
girl of fourteen years and a boy chum fifteen years old. They 
traveled all the way from Michigan in a stolen car. They became 
very successful highway robbers, holding up gas stations. The girl 
kept the car running and the boy went into the station to get the 
money. ‘They started out for a grand adventure and did very well, 
but their plans finally went astray when the police arrived at the 
proper moment and arrested the girl in the auto, but the boy 
escaped them and was not located. (A boys’ worker.) 

275. There was one boy who was perfectly normal in every 
way, except he would run off and get into trouble. Whenever his 
mother wanted him he was gone. I marked out the plans for a 
cave in his back yard and told him how to go about it; to dig down 
here, then tunnel in and make two rooms there, furnish these with 
boxes, etc., and I wanted to have tea down there the next time I 
came. I saw the mother a few days ago, and she told me that 
W was working like a trooper and had all the boys in the 
neighborhood in the back yard. Now, whenever she wants him, 
she only has to call and he is at hand. (A boys’ worker.) . 

276. Our main problem is lack of understanding between 
parents and children. A boy came in here who had run away from 
home, and the reason was that his mother was beating him and 
his aunt and older sister came in and started to beat him too. He 
said that to have three of them jump on him at once made him so 
mad that he picked up a broom and knocked his aunt down, and 
then had run away from home. Upon inquiry I found that his 
mother started to beat him because he persisted in taking things 
to pieces around the house. Acting on that clue, I got him work as 
a mechanic’s apprentice, where he has done splendidly. The fore- 
man says he has real inventive ability. (A social worker.) 

277. An eleven-year-old boy was: picked up down town and 
gave a false address; moreover, to two different people he gave 
different names for himself. He borrowed nickels: from people 
so that he could get out, as he said, to his aunt’s home. He had 
no such aunt, and had been living here for some time “off of” the 
nickels and by stealing. It was found out later that his home was 
in an Eastern state and that his parents, when notified, replied 
that they did not want him. He had bummed his way here and 
had lived here several weeks without having any regular “bread | 
or board;” without a home and without any relatives or any par- 
ticular friends with whom he stayed. He did not even have a 
place to hang his cap, and yet he had made almost complete adjust- 
ments outside our ordinary social institutions. His ultimate idea 





78 THE BOWING ELE AGU. 


was to get into the motion pictures and become another Jackie 
Coogan. His faith was great and his hopes were high, but he 
finally landed in jail. (A social worker.) 


IV. Motion PIcruRES AND THE Boy e 


Motion pictures, powerful factors for weal or woe, because 
of the indirect suggestion which they exert, are here referred to 
only from the standpoint of their influence on boys. Parents take 
their children to the movies young, often because there “is no one | 
to leave them with.” Many children go just to get away from 
home. But the film is almost certain to relate to adult problems, 
such as unfaithful husbands or wives, gun play, or perhaps murder. 
Young boys thus develop the habit of viewing adult scenes long 
before they have the critical judgment to see them in relation to 
sound social conditions. They are early fed, through the movies, 
a complete diet of pathological feelings, actions and thoughts. 
They see how thefts are committed and love flaunted, and think 
that they can “get away with it” without being caught. 


In certain parts of the city where the cheaper movies are, bad 
conditions develop in the theater. The room is semi-dark, and low 
sex standards between couples exist. 


278. The movies come high on my list because I usually have 
nothing to do, so I go to the movies to pass the time away. 
(A boy.) 

279. My mother and father started taking me when I was 
about one year old. I have been going ever since, and will continue 
to go all the rest of my life. (A boy.) 

280. The boy gets an idea from the movie or other play, or 
the newspaper, that it is a big thing to be a burglar or a highway- 
man. We need to put other types of hero ideas into his mind. 
(A boys’ worker.) 

281. The movies, too, show emotional escapades. Sentiment 
runs high in them. The boy’s feelings are aroused and his desires 
for reckless adventures are encouraged continuously. (A social 
worker.) 

282. Sometimes I was taken to the movies when I was a little 
baby; when I got to be four or five years old my favorite pastime 
was the movies. I used to go on Saturday afternoon and sit for 
two shows, just to see some little plot or exciting part. (A boy.) 

283. The part of the movie I like best is where the villain is 
about to grab the heroine and throw her over a thousand-foot cliff 
to the raging rapids below, and the hero, riding in in a cloud of 
dust (horseback, of course), pulls out two sixshooters, captures 
the villain, and receives the reward of five hundred dollars. (A 
boy.) 

284. Several of the police recotds show that theatres, espe- 
cially motion picture theatres, are convenient places for boys and 
girls to get acquainted. In some cases boys and girls stay through 
three shows, and may not leave until very late. (A police worker.) 


LEISURE TIME | 79 


285. When I was small, mother had no one to leave me with, 
so took me to the show with her. I started going when about five 
or six years old, and have been going ever since. (A boy.) 


286. Many of our students spend a great deal of their time at 
the movies at night. It seems that the poorer children go from 
five to seven nights per week, while those out of the better districts 
do not average more than once or twice a week at most. (A 
teacher. ) 


287. You know thé type of movies that run down there, not 
uplifting at all: some man runs off with another man’s wife, with 
this light sentiment taken for love; and some of our young high 
school boys and girls try it out and have to suffer, when society 
at large is really to blame. (A boys’ worker.) 


288. They (Molican elders) are against America, chiefly be- 
cause of the movies, dance halls, and independent spirit of youth. 
They say that the movies are responsible for the stealing, running 
away of their boys, for their destruction of automobiles, for fight- 
ing, for wild adventures. ‘They refuse to give their boy a dime to 
go to the movies. The boy with his innate power of resistance is 
determined to visit the movies, and he steals, sneaks in the movies, 
gets into all sorts of trouble. (A social worker.) 


289. Some kids are given autos and turned loose with them 
long before they ought, and consequently get into all kinds of 
mischief; and then in the movies they see the wrong type of life 
played up, and the desire comes to them to emulate this. They see 
the crook get away with his dirty deals, and the idea comes to them 
to try the same. (A boys’ worker.) 


290. There is so much petty larceny thrown on the screen, 
sex and family looseness, and the boy goes out and tries to practice 
it all. The movie dulls the mind. I have five boys, and that’s the 
way it affects me and even affects the boys sometimes. Have you 
seen —————? It is a polished portrayal of passion. There is only 
one result. Young people who see it couple off after the show is 
over and practice it. (A father.) 


291. One of them—let us call him Johnnie—was a lad of 
thirteen who had an I, QO. of 112; he was arrested with George—let 
us call him that—for having broken into a home for the purpose of 
burglarizing it. Both of the boys had been in trouble before. In 
breaking into the house, Johnnie had pushed the key out of the 
door with a safety pin, then had pulled it under the door to the out- 
side with a stick. He said he got the idea in the movies. They had 
stolen nothing except a marble, and had gone in for the purpose 
of looking for just anything they might happen to find. They 
were caught before they found anything of value. Johnnie was 
released to his parents, but George was held. (A boys’ worker.) 

292. The pictures shown on ——— Street are probably no 
different than those shown elsewhere in the city, except that they 
are much older, and generally have as an added attraction a cheap 


80 ELE (BO YOUN AT a PAGEL Y: 


serial or one real “thriller.” The character of the display adver- 
tising used is distinctly different, however, and is well calculated 
to appeal to the types found in the vicinity. For the most part, it 
is of a glaring and flamboyant nature; in many instances it is 
designed so as to convey a sex suggestiveness that is in reality 
not borne out by the theme of the picture. In nearly all cases it is 
misleading. (A police worker.) 


293. At the movies we find that always the passions are 
appealed to, and not the higher ones so much as the fleshy, the 
carnal ones. Some of the movies are actually an insult to our intel- 
ligence. In them our sons and daughters see an unreal and arti- 
ficial and false standard of conduct set up. They are bound to have 
some influence in the long run upon the boy’s mind and conduct. 
Then the places are dark. Very few people of any age can with- 
stand the dark, let alone young people. These particular picture 
shows become spooning parlors at best, and at worst we do not 
know, but some of them are licentious. (A boys’ worker.) 


294. ‘The influence of the movies is rather marked; this influ- 
ence is twofold. First of all there is the direct influence where 
the boy goes out to imitate what he has seen in the films; occasion- 
ally the thief gets his start from the movie model; then there is 
gun play in almost every movie; this 1s exceedingly bad. But 
more important than the movies themselves is the lives of the 
actors and actresses. These people are the most important people 
in the world of the boy; anything they do is all right. If the very 
best people marry and get divorces whenever they want, what can 
we expect from the boys and girls?—and the movie stars are the 
important people in the world of the boy or girl. Then the 
sex orgies and booze parties have no good influence on our young 
people. We can say all we want about the lives of the actors not 
entering into the influence of the picture, but the facts remain the 
same—that they do. The ideas that find lodgment in his mind 
every day will soon be translated into life action. (A boys’ worker.) 


V. ‘THE CABARET AND PusLic DANCE HALL 


As institutions, the cabaret and public dance hall have much 
to answer for in connection with the welfare of older boys. Some 
dance halls are especially bad, with their small dancing floors, 
atmosphere of smoke, punch that “nearly punches you out,” and 
dancing which is mildly described as lascivious. High school boys, 
with their girl friends, are present on Friday and Saturday eve- 
nings. The appeal to the sex passions as told by boys who partici- 
pate is beyond all decent description. 

Some of the “road houses,” outside the city limits, are also 
patronized by boys and girls. Conditions in these are often much 
worse than in the halls within the city. Many are under little or 
no supervision at times. 

295. I had expected to find more young people of the high 
school and college age, but the Negro who ran the men’s wash- 





LEISURE TIME 81 


room volunteered that “Friday night is kid’s night.” (A research 
worker.) 

296. The dancing was simply disgusting in its lasciviousness. 
I had visited some of the lowest dance halls and dives in Europe, 
but never saw a worse exhibition of putrid dancing than last Satur- 
day night at the “X.” (A research worker.) 

297. The more sophisticated and blase youngsters of the high 
school age saunter in around 9:30 and 10:30. One could not help 
but remark the number of old men dancing with young women. 
(A boys’ worker.) 


298. ‘The best part” about these dance halls is you don’t have 
to know anyone to get along. And you can come in when you 
want and go out when you want. And you can get acquainted 
with the ones you want to know, and you can leave the others 
alone and they let you alone. (A boys’ worker.) 


299. The orchestra was about the average one, producing 
good jazz that fairly makes a cripple want to dance, but they were 
more vocal than usual and sang several songs during the course of 
the evening. Amongst their selections were several verses of an 
improvised “It ain’t a gonna rain no more,” and some of these 
verses were simply filth. (A research worker.) 


300. As long as boys are in the Valentino stage, dance halls 
will remain a problem. We close our dances at 11:30,and then the 
young people go off to some public dance hall that is still open, 
so we have been keeping ours open longer. It’s a big problem. 
(A boys’ worker.) ° 


301. Although the whole atmosphere is rather more amusing 
and ridiculous than vicious and dangerous, still it is not a healthy 
atmosphere for high school students. They cannot help but imbibe 
some of the cynicism and hectic, artificial, selfish seeking after 
foolish pleasures of their elders. Most of the women present were 
smoking. (A research worker.) 


302. Anyone who has seen it will agree, unless they are hope- 
less, that it is a veritable cesspool of filth and no fit place for 
anyone to spend much time, let alone high school students. I 
should strongly recommend that such places be compelled to pay 
a license high enough to permit of the city stationing a police- 
woman in each to supervise dancing and conduct generally, and 
that there be a stipulation in licensing that there be adequate floor 
space for dancing provided, so that there will be no temptation for 
closely packed humanity to let its hands stray. (A boys’ worker.) 


303. The flat rate of licensing is $15.00 per thousand square 
feet per quarter. The minimum rate of $15.00 has a tendency to 
make a great number of the dancing places have just under 1000 
square feet of dancing space, which leads to overcrowding, excel- 
lent opportunities for questionable dancing, and difficulty of super- 
vision. (A research worker.) 


82 THEVBOY SEN she aay 


304. The hard part comes in closing so early in this town. 
You can’t stay open after one o'clock in the morning. And they 
can’t open on Sunday at all. Now, that’s something I don’t under- 
stand. Down in ———,, for instance, they stay open Sundays if 
they want to, and they can stay open to all hours. You’d think in 
a big city you could stay open whenever you wanted. If we could. 
stay open later we’d make a lot more money. (A dance hall pro- 
prietor. ) 

305. There is some foolishness, bad form, and cheap, tawdry 
love-making in public, but no more so than on the beaches, proba- 
bly much less. I do not think the dance halls are any lower in 
tone than the newspapers, movies, magazines, or the general level 
of everyday conversation in all classes. When one compares the 
present-day Los Angeles dance hall with the frontier dance hall of 
other days, or the cabaret and night life conditions of the Conti- 
nent, one is forced to the conclusion that Los Angeles has come 
as close as it is now possible to regulate amusements in the public 
interest. (A research worker.) 


306. A dance is the easiest way of entertaining, and but 
another phase of our commercialized recreation. We do not seem 
to be able to enjoy ourselves unless it costs us money. ‘The great 
plea for dancing is that it is hygienic exercise, but the leading 
authorities on hygiene say that it is often anything but that. Take 
it from purely a hygienic standpoint—you are in a close room, the 
shuffling feet keep the dust stirred up all the time, rather strenuous 
stimulation of the psychic nature takes place, and two sweaty 
bodies are close to each other, then the dance-is over and you go 
and ‘drink some of the stuff they call punch, and it nearly punches 
you out, then in this warm condition you go out onto some cool 
porch, and repeat this several times, and you are lucky if you do 
not have a cold or worse. I am not debating the moral element 
in dancing at all; this is science. (A boys’ worker.) 


307. You ought to go down to ———,, outside the city limits, 
and there you'll find girls dancing without many clothes on, and 
even drunk, at fourteen years of age. You go down there if you 
don’t believe me. These places are like mushrooms, in the county, 
outside of the city. There are no county rules prohibiting girls 
under eighteen from meeting at these places. The only thing we 
can do is to make statutory cases where we can prove individual 
instances that illicit sex relations have been had. Proof of this kind 
is very difficult, especially when a gang of boys and girls are 
guilty. One won't tell on the other, of course. The public ought 
to know that if something is not done soon, what good children 
we have left will be spoiled. The public is getting aroused, but 
doesn’t know what to do. (A police officer.) 


VI. CHEAP MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, AND So FortTH 


The part that cheap magazines play in the lives of many boys 
and girls is large. ‘They are read for their sexually suggestive 


LEISURE TIME 83 


jokes. At house parties of questionable moral character, so the 
police report, are found current copies of the worst. The dime 
novel of the past has been supplanted by the questionable short 
story and cheap magazine. 


These newspapers which play up the diseases of society in 
lurid and exciting headlines are creating distorted views of society 
in young minds. The newspaper that depicts a robbery or murder, 
showing where the offender stood when he shot, is putting danger- 
ous pictures into minds of youth. When burglary is made to look 
heroic, newspaper standards need revising. A leading newspaper 
in a middle western state has awakened -to its guilt and has 
inaugurated a new policy of putting all pathological stories on the 
second page and of using ordinary headlines, 


Penny arcades contain pictures that arouse the passions of 
youth. In order to get the nickels, these passions may be falsely 
stimuated. Immoral young women are reported as frequenting 
some of these places, and dope peddlers find in them convenient 
places to ply their trade. 


Cheaper pool halls in the poorer downtown districts are “hang- 
outs’ for boys and young men. As centers for exchanging inde- 
cent stories and planning raids, they lower social standards. 


“Side Shows” and “Dancing Girl Shows” cater to older boys’ 
desires for thrills. The price is cheap and the appeal to passion is 
high. 


CHEAP MAGAZINES 


308. I think that we are making a big mistake in not sup- 
pressing all of these which these boys so freely condemn; these 
“kids” are not goody goodies, either. (A boys’ worker.) 


309. The magazine literature that the fellows read has a very 
large influence on them. Many of them read these kinds that do 
not have a very elevating effect on a fellow. The worst are im- 
ported from France. (A police officer.) 


310. Four couples up in the mountains traced their miscon- 
duct to reading “smutty magazines.” In one city they have 
recently legislated seventeen magazines off the news stands 
because of their demoralizing effect upon boys and girls. (A 
police worker.) 

311. “Smutty magazines” are read extensively by the boys, 
and by girls too, for that matter. That is the kind of girls some 
boys go with. Many of them read these and throw them down on 
the living room tables at home and their parents don’t say any- 
thing about it. Others smuggle them in and read them in private. 
(A parent.) 

312. Thursday was Library Day, which deviated from the 
program of other cities. We wanted to counteract the miserable 
types of reading. Forty years ago boys were in danger of accident- 
ally blowing out their brains with a shotgun. Today they are in 


84 CAE PBOW SUN TELA Ly 


danger of blowing out their brains by buying this miserable liter- 
ature. Then they were given a decent burial; now, they live on 
after they have blown their brains out. (A boys’ worker.) 


‘THE NEWSPAPERS 


313. Then there are those newspapers which daily present 
portrayals of rotten morals, of other delinquencies such as stealing. 
The auto, movies, and the press, at their worst, are the three big 
delinquency makers. (A boys’ worker.) 

314. The newspapers: are particularly harmful when they 
publish defaults in lurid headlines and play up stealing and murder 
with drawings showing exactly how everything is done. (A police 
worker.) 

315. In some newspapers, what is spread out before boys? 
The headlines frequently deal with burglaries. The heroism and 
cleverness of burglars are played up in a way that is bound to 
appeal to the imagination. Of course, some of the burglars are 
caught but even that is described in a way to cause a boy to feel 
that if he is clever enough, he can protect himself from being 
caught. Of course, some of the burglaries are described as ama- 
teurish performances. Even these, however, show a boy how to 
avoid such amateurishness and become skillful. Many of them are 
illustrated with drawings showing just where the burglar walked 
and what he did or did not do, in ways full of suggestion. (A boys’ 
worker.) 


PENNY ARCADES 


316. Many pictures exhibited in penny slot machines are 
calculated to excite the passions of youth. Immoral girls and 
women frequent these arcades at certain times for the purpose of 
getting acquainted with boys and men, and apparently are not 
restricted by the managers in any way. (A police worker.) 

317. ‘These arcades are also considered good places in which 
to “peddle dope” to boys and girls, largely because of the excite- 
ment to passions which accompanies participation in the “amuse- 
ments” of such places. (A police worker.) 

318. Postcard pictures of girls and women, in bathing suits 
and otherwise, reveal unusual portions of naked body. These are 
exhibited in racks along with other postcards. No apparent at- 
tempt is made to restrict persons from looking at these pictures on 
account of age. In one case there was a line of men and boys 
waiting their turn to see one slot-machine picture which was ex- 
ceptionally vicious. (A police worker.) 


“SIDE SHOWS” 


319. The price of admission is usually ten cents. This brings 
_ such “shows” within the financial reach of even poor boys. There 
is but little attempt to prohibit attendance of boys (or girls) under 
eighteen. The writer has seen children in arms of their mothers or 
fathers in these places. ( A*police worker.) 


LEISURE TIME 85 


320. The second group of attractions consist of from two to 
six “dancing girls.” These girls depend for their attractiveness on 
exposure of considerable portions of bare body, or still greater ex- 
posure of tights. Most of them give dancing exhibitions which, in 
ordinary language, are indecent and vulgar. (A police worker.) 


VII. Boxinc 


One of the pastimes for leisure hours that many boys enjoy is 
boxing. Boxing requires little equipment, only a few square feet 
of space, and allows expression to surplus energy. A crowd quickly 
gathers, however, and then boxing turns into fighting. “Sides” are 
taken and the “principals” are cheered on. What originated as 
pure exercise ends in a bloody encounter motivated by the aim to 
win by knocking the other fellow down. It is one thing for 500 
pairs of boys to be boxing, but an entirely different affair when the 
same thousand are “yelling their heads off” at “two undernourished 
kids” each trying to secure “a count” against the other. Older 
boys and men, parents, often foster these “fights.” Women en- 
courage them by their presence. Social organizations promote 
them, without realizing the conduct patterns that they are foster- 
ing throughout the community. 


321. Boxing matches or “fights” often represent a bad situa- 
tion, for they may be under the auspices of some patriotic organiza- 
tion and no one dares to say a word against them, although they 
may be worse even than the movie situation. (A police officer.) 


322. At first nobody seemed to care much about our fights 
here, but pretty soon some of the people in the church began to 
buck us and we thought they were going to close us up for a little 
while, but we got some of them to come over here and see our 
fights and now we have them with us. They thought we were 
having the kind of fights where one fellow was about half killed; 
the kind where you knock them down and have to drag them out 
and carry them home ona wheel barrow. (A boy.) 


323. Then lots of people think that all there is to the decision 
is to decide which is the best, but there may be a time when that 
fellow over in the west corner is just a shade better than the one 
over in this corner, but we give the decision to this one and the 
crowd yells for the other man and this excites them and we arrange 
for a re-match to fight it out and everybody wants to come the next 
week to see the matter settled right. We have to watch all these 
things to keep up the interest in the affair, There are lots of things 
that most of the people do not see through at all, but you have to 
consider all of them if you are to successfully conduct any fights. 
(A boxing promoter.) 

324. He was born and reared up here on Bunker Hill where 
he did not have a decent home and where he ran the streets. He 
developed into a boxer. One night at S he was knocked cold. 
In order to bring him to he was given several injections of cocaine. 
In this connection he developed the dope habit. Some time ago 





86 DEER OY aN i ot Mee i ley: 


he was sent to Preston but ran away at the end of the first week. I 
asked him why he ran away and he said that he “just had to have 
dope,” so he came back here in order “to hit the hop.” Some time 
later he murdered W and I am absolutely certain that when 
he did this he was completely under the influence of dope. He was 


frenzied by it and now he is sentenced to hang. (A probation 
officer.) 


325. Above all other people the Mexicans are national hero 
worshippers. Two or three Mexicans have become famous boxers 
and gotten rich, like Colima, Fuente and. the like. Nearly every . 
Mexican boy has the ambition to be a great boxer. This is the 
main thing that he thinks about until he gets married and has to go 
to work digging ditches or working for the railroad. These kids 
fight all the time, but it gives them something to do and at any rate 
they are not getting into trouble with other people. When they 
built that ring down at V it seemed that rings sprang up all 
over this neighborhood and clubs of fellows would get together 
and train and fight all the time. I was going down a side street 
and heard a most terrible noise and cries and out of curiosity 
went inside a barn and there in the ring were two little under- 
nourished kids fighting each other. Both were so weak that they 
could not land a good blow, but they were going after each other. 
The mother of one of the fighters was in the stand urging him on, 
the other kid’s sisters were there and other boys and girls from 
the neighborhood cheering their respective champion. (A play- 
ground director.) 


S20. ena. is president of the club and started it. This is his 
back yard, He gets the fellows to come and fight and then arranges 
the order of our own members. The little fellows come first. 
Those two little kids in the ring now are some fighters; that one 
with his hair cut short knocked a guy out last Thursday night. 
That fellow over there with the white sweater on is sure fast and 
a hard hitter. He knocked a guy out too. There were three girls 
on the back seat of this section, on the end of the row was a kid by 
the name of Stephen whom the boys razzed considerably for sitting 
next to a girl. Then there was the fellow with his Spanish belle, 
and his arm encircled her waist. There was also the pop vender 
and the fellow who sold candy, cracker jack, and chocolate bars. 
There were no cigars or cigarettes sold during the evening, though 
there were plenty of them which were smoked, many kids who 
would not see sixteen for years were smoking. Altogether there 
were some 500 spectators arranged around the ring, and there 
before the first fight took place. It was impossible to get everyone 
in, many tried to crowd in, but a few were turned away after all 
standing room was taken. The crowd was very orderly, more 
orderly than at any organized ring, or at a college fight, (A boys’ 
worker.) 











LEISURE TIME 87 


VIII. Sex ProspiemMs 


Sex immorality goes back to lack of sex hygiene education 
and of self-control. The failure of the home and the inadequacy 
of the school in teaching sex hygiene leave much sex education to 
the idle hours of the street, alleys, and roadsides. No moral control, 
but willingness to take a chance, “to play with fire,” complete the 
conditions resulting in sex delinquencies. Boys are able to escape 
the moral disapproval of sex illegitimacy much better than are 
girls. Older boys and men become skillful in arousing the pas- 
sions of girls ignorant of and with loose standards regarding sex 
relations. The automobile, many motion pictures, the blase atti- 
tudes of many young girls are all inviting factors. 


Venereal diseases constitute a part of the penalty. Difficult 
to cure, ugly in nature, they are as bad as the diseased social atti- 
tudes which may accompany them. ‘The happiness and lives of 
innocent wives and children of the future are mortgaged. 


“Petting” parties are different in one respect from the old-time 
“spooning.” ‘They are more brazen, carried on further away from 
home (because of the automobile) and more subject to “dares.” 


Men as sex degenerates on occasion take advantage of boys. 
Disease and morally perverted attitudes are the results. Boys may 
be innocently and easily led astray and done irreparable harm. 


The “delinquency triangle” situation formerly consisted of a 
boy living at a certain address, of a girl living in the same neighbor- 
hood and of a sex offense being committed in the neighborhood. 
Then there came the triangle where the boy and the girl lived in 
different neighborhoods and the offense was committed in one. 
Now, there is an increase of the situations where the boy and girl 
live in the same neighborhood and go to a distant neighborhood 
where the offense is committed. The automobile enters into this 
“mobility” triangle situation frequently as an explanatory factor. 
The triangle is also taking on an enlarged geographic aspect, for 
the boy may live in one neighborhood, the girl in a third, and the 
offense be committed in still another. No one of these neighbor- 
hoods alone can control this type of situation. The intertwining of 
neighborhoods is usually baffling when a hundred such cases are 
considered. Not local, but general community control is necessary, 

327. The girls are brought to the court for sex offenses but 
the boys are seldom spotted. A great deal of sex delinquency is 
the direct result of ignorance about sex hygiene. (A boys’ worker.) 

328. Lack of discipline in the home is the big thing. Within 
the last few weeks I have had to arrange several marriages for 
couples not married but to whom children would soon be born. 
This sex problem is getting terrific. (A _ pastor.) 

329. Another thing which we are facing is venereal disease. 
I get them as young as fourteen years and many times they are 
infected before I get them. We can keep a clinic busy right here 


88 THETBO Yon are Ey 


with our venereal disease cases. They are urged to take treatments 
but they don’t follow them up. (A teacher.) 

330. His chief contribution was the aspect of immorality in 
the high schools and he was particularly bitter toward druggists 
who thrive on the sale of preventives and prophylactics to high 
school boys. (A teacher.) 

331. ‘The athletes have very much trouble with petting parties 
for they are popular and the girls like to have dates with them and 
consequently they are frequently out on petting parties. (A 
teacher.) 


332. Petting is very prevalent; after almost every party some — 
couples go out on rides and generally get to the beach and continue 
the petting on the sand. (A teacher.) 


333. One of the fellows around here is rather mean and hard 
to handle. He has no home influence, he has spent much of his 
life hanging around and working around oil derricks and has be- 
come a regular bum. I always have to watch that he does not 
influence these younger kids that are just finding themselves. He 
is about 19 and influential with the smaller fellows. (A playground 
director.) 


334. No, I am not afraid of getting diseased for she has a 
certificate up in her room stating that she is free from disease. 
(A boy.) 

335. The beach resorts are always open to catch an uwun- 
suspecting fellow and to supply the initiated. Many perfectly 
decent girls like to aggravate the fellows and get a kick out of 
doing it. They won’t quite go over the bounds but come as close 
as possible and get the fellow all stirred up, and sometimes both 
go over together. (A boys’ worker.) 

336. You have to keep your eye out for degenerates who 
come around once in awhile and try to get too affectionate with 
some little child. ‘Whenever I see some old fellow getting too 
friendly with a little fellow I go over and ask him if that is his 
child. If he says yes, then I ask the child. If the child says no, 
I invite the fellow to get out and to get out quick. Once in a while 
I make a mistake, but then it is easy to apologize and the person 
has enough sense to realize that I am on the job. Generally these 
degenerates can’t look you in the eye; you can pick them out. (A 
playground director.) 

337. A short dress gets many a fellow down. Lots of them 
in college are above the knee. A fellow can’t stand it. Then all 
these hikes to the mountains where it is expected that something 
illicit will take place. Then these cabin parties are fierce; where 
three or four couples go to a double cabin up in the mountains, 
only a partition between them. Sometimes they stay separated 
during the night but at any rate they are doing an awful lot of 
thinking that is not especially uplifting. (A boys’ worker.) 


THE GANG 89 


CHAPTER VI 


The Boy and the Gang 


Ganging is natural to boys at certain ages. They begin “to 
run together’ about twelve years of age. They never wholly get 
away from the ganging tendency, for high school and college boys 
have their “frats,’ and men have their clubs, fraternal orders, and 
inner circles of friends. In all parts of the city, on all the streets, 
small groups of boys may be seen in the late afternoons and early 
evenings roaming about. Sometimes one of these groups “get 
into trouble,’ and again, in certain sections of the city, a group 
may become chronically predatory—it is then a “gang” in a real 
sense, that is, a loosely organized group of boys in conflict with one 
or more local community institutions, 


In Los Angeles, the gangs are not as proportionately numer- 
ous or their predatoriness as serious as in other large cities. The 
newness and mobility of much of the population ordinarily pre- 
vents the development of a predatory gang over a long period 
of years. There are relatively few deep-rooted gangs in the city. 

However, there are enough, especially in the industrial and 
East Side sections, to constitute a serious menace. The very fact 
that these gangs are not yet of the fixed types, means that if the 
city would comprehend the problem and act, it could solve its boy 
gang problem while it is still comparatively easy to cope with. 


338. This country around here is ideal for gangs,—poor 
homes, railroad yards are only a block away, the F—— plant is 
over there just a block; there are lots of dark alleys and stores and 
boxes to hide in. (A boy.) 


339. It is hard to get a gang or club going with the fellows 
moving around so much. There are about four or five of us who 
always chase around together now. We are all out for athletics 
and that is where we got to know each other. (A boy.) 


340. When fellows stay in the same neighborhood all the time 
the tendency is to form a strong gang, but when they can get in 
cars and tear all over the city and surrounding territory the gang 
_ breaks up, and only two or three go together. Of course there are 
some gangs here, but not many. (A boys’ worker.) 


341. Almost every street has a gang; they are not serious, but 
the fellows like to be together. Most of them just get together, 
there is no one leader who makes the group. Then the gangs, as 
far as I can see, always break up about 14 or 15. It happened that 
we moved out of the district and then others did and we were 
scattered and the club ended. (A boy.) 





90 THE BOYIN foe CLEy, 


342. There are not the gangs here that there are in the other 
cities. Here the population is shifting and new, there the kids 
are raised in the same neighborhood and live there all their life, 
never going anywhere else and have a hot time along about the 
time they get to be 15. Here, however, the kids’ folks move about 
and the gangs do not have time to get set solidly, and there is more 
change and not so much devilment. The kids form more lke 
cliques out here than real gangs. (A boy.) 


343. We had some rules like the fellows had to be there every | 
evening at six o’clock and by ten o’clock in the morning on Satur- 
day; that the fellows had to do what they were told to do. Only 
one kid pulled out of the gang and that was because we stole too ~ 
much and he was afraid of getting caught. We laid for him and 
sure beat him up. He is afraid to come anywhere near us now. 
Several times other kids told us they would beat us up when they 
caught us alone, but we never ever went around alone, there were 
always several together. (A boy.) 


I. ORIGINS 


Most gangs start as cliques as a small group of boys “running 
around” together looking for. something to do. One or more of the 
number, older and stronger than the rest, suggest things to do, 
and become natural leaders, and ultimately ringleaders. The urge 
to do and to take, when coupled with lack of parental supervision | 
and of moral teaching regarding the nature of property as a social 
institution, accounts in part for the origin of the gang. One group 
“organizes” in self-defense against another. “Everybody is organ- 
izing.” : 

345. I think when a fellow has a car he has to keep working 
and save his money. I don’t know where the boys who don’t work 
get their money. They belong to gangs and the only reason they 
become gangsters is because they are lazy. (A boys’ worker.) 


346. The boy gets into difficulty chiefly because of lack of 
home training and parental companionship. The boy has no one to 
talk things over with and he seeks the gang, from his earliest child- 
hood. Some boys, as a rule, steal because they have no conception 
of property rights. ‘They see just one side and their own impulse 
for possessing things dominates their activities. (A boys’ worker.) 


347. These gangs just start; I don’t know how or why the one 
I belonged to got to going. Just a bunch of fellows got together 
and chased around for a good time. One of the guys wanted to dig 
a cave and the rest of us pitched in and helped. It took us about 
four days to get the whole thing done. (A boy.) 


348. I was in my first gang when I was about 11 years old. 
That was so long ago that I do not remember all of the details, but 
there were a number that stand out. It was down at where 
we hung out the most. Everybody in that district and the cops 
told us we were the worst guys in town. There was just a bunch 





THE GANG 91 


of us that lived around there close, and got to going around to- 
gether and then formed into a kind of gang. (A boy.) 

349. The first gang I ever belonged to was when I was about 
8 years old. I and four other kids got together and built us a 
house up in a great big pepper tree. First we only had one room, 
but later we added several other small rooms. We pulled the 
stuff up with a rope fastened around the pulley on a motorcycle 
engine my brother fixed up for us. The gang busted up when I 
moved away about a year later. The way I got in the gang down 
on was by selling newspapers down there. (A boy.) 


350. I think the reason we formed into a club was primarily 
to defend ourselves against the other gangs that were on the dif- 
ferent streets. Almost all the fellows around there were organized 
into gangs and we had to be too, in order to be in things. There was 
a big vacant lot right in the middle of our block and we started to 
build a cave in there and we would just get a little done and some 
gang would come along and cave it in, and we would dig some more 
only to have them do it again. Finally we got together in one of 
the boy’s barns and organized a gang and signed our names in 
our blood to the document I just spoke of. I was just eleven then 
and most of the boys were the same age. We met once a week, 
in different kids’ barns and then once every so often we would have 
a little party at some fellow’s home. (A boy.) 





Il. THe RINGLEADER IN PREDATORY GANGS 


The leader of the gang is the crux of the institution. All 
swings around him. He rules with an iron hand, until knocked 
out by some other physically able boy. Brute force and mental 
ability in the form of cunning count most. When a leader’s posi- 
tion is challenged, the matter is settled by fighting. By sheer force 
the leader becomes a law unto himself, the hero of the group, ad- 
mired and feared. 


351. There is no real organization to any of these gangs. that 
I have seen. Some one fellow in the group who is stronger than 
the rest becomes the leader; they do not seem to have much respect 
for mental ability; brute force counts with them. (A_ boys’ 
worker. ) 


352. The leader of the gang is considered the king of the 
neighborhood and all the boys do as he says, even lending him 
money, which he never returns, because otherwise they would lose 
his friendship, which they prize highly. (A boy.) } 

353. Most of these gangs would not last very long, the fel- 
lows would get to fighting among themselves and we would break 
up. Generally there were about two or three of us who were 
always fighting for leadership while the rest were content to fol- 
low. Lots of times either my brother or I would lead; generally 
when he was not there I would. 


v2 ELE CB OYeatN Ep lit ay > 





354. W was really the leader of the gang for a long time, 
but I do not think he is around there now. He disappeared from 
the community before I left down there and I think he is now a 
member of a bigger gang or of older fellows. He surely was smart 
as a whip, and we could never catch him in anything, but we knew 
that he was in it and the directing mind back of it all. (A play- 
ground director.) 


III. Hancouts 


Caves are favorite hangouts. Old buildings, such as barns, 
are also used. In these places the gang’s minor activities take 
place and its major ones are planned. The hangouts, for example, | 
the caves, may be elaborately protected from invaders, especially 
from the “cops.” Intricate tunnels are made so that in the dark- 
ness a gang can quickly disperse without “getting caught.” Hang- 
outs serve as places or rendezvous for boys playing truant from 
school by day, and from home by night, 


If caves and old barns are primary hangouts, then certain street 
corners and pool halls are secondary ones. Older boys get together 
at certain semi-public places where private conversations are held 
and plans laid. The automobile has increased the range of the 
gang’s migratoriness. In fact, the automobile may be viewed as a 
tertiary type of hangout. 


355. The kids used to get down in this cave and tell dirty 
stories and jokes all the time. Almost all of them smoke, but I 
don’t like to for I want to keep strong and become a prize fighter. 
My uncle is A , the great prize fighter and he and my mother 
and every one wants me to be one too. If I had a wish it would be 
to be a prize fighter. These guys in the gang don’t think about 
being good citizens. (A boy.) 


356. We shoot craps a plenty, and I ain’t fooling you none. 
Lots of days when we were supposed to be in school, we would 
go down to our cave and shoot craps or shake dice for the other 
guys’ money. All the guys about could swipe all the wine they 
wanted off their dads. Some of them would swipe it and take it 
to school, and sell it. We always had plenty of wine and whiskey 
to drink. Almost every house down there has a still, or makes 
wine. I have seen lots of those kids drunk down there. (A boy.) 


357. There used to be a gang not very long ago who had a 
great big cave dug out under the F—— bridge, and had it all fixed 
up so they could stay there over night if they wanted. I do not 
know if it still hangs out there now or not. I ain’t been over there 
for some time. They never kept anything that they stole in there 
nor did we keep it in our cave. We disposed of it as soon as 
possible, we weren’t taking any chances. These gangs never have 
any time of regular meeting, we just got together and toreup Ned, 
raised plenty of Cain, but never had any business meetings. (A 
boy.) : 








THE GANG 93 


IV. Ganc FIGHTS 


A gang puts in considerable time fighting other gangs or in 
making threatening attacks and warding off attacks. Some develop 
a fighting complex and are always involved. Sometimes these 
fights take on a neighborhood character. A gang in one neighbor- 
hood is attacked by a gang from another district. Local loyalty 
rages. 

358. We got into a fight with the F gang once. They saw 
us stealing some stuff and were going to snitch on use so we 
jumped into them. ‘There are about thirty guys in that one, too, 
(A boy.) 

359, The boys on this side of the river claim certain swim- 
ming holes down there and boys from both districts were down 
there and the kids from this side tried to drive the others away and 
they began by throwing bricks at each other. (A boy.) 

360. Last night there was a fight down in front of one of the 
theatres on C between the Negroes and whites. It is rumored 
that they are going down to S to finish it tonight; down there 
among the pipes they are going to have a regular gang fight. I 
always try to watch out for that. A race riot might easily be 
started. (A playground worker.) 

361. We fought gangs of Mexican kids down in the river. 
Lots of times we would go over there and fight with them. One 
time, Snookey, got a great big cut in his head here, tore all the 
hair and skin off up here on his head. Some kid hit him with a 
rock which he threw from one of these whirling slings. We threw 
rocks, by hand and in these slings, shot “beebes” and if we got 
close enough used our fists. Then we fought other gangs around 
closer if they ever bothered us any. (A boy.) 











V. NEIGHBORHOOD NUISANCE 


The gang usually attracts attention to itself first as a neighbor- 
hood nuisance. Sometimes, it becomes a nuisance merely by mak- 
ing noise late at night, irrespective of the neighbors’ state of health 
and desire for quiet; sometimes, by persistent “teasing’’ of some 
particularly “fussy” neighbor; sometimes, by the pranks of the 
Hallowe’en type. At the worst, the gang’s destruction of property, 
stealing, burglarizing, make it a problem for community solution 
and prevention. 

362. The gangs down there don’t break into a store very 
often, but when they do, I am telling you, they never waste much 
time in really stripping the things they want. When they break 
into a store you know they have been inside of one. (A boys’ 
worker. ) 

363. Then there’s a gang that travels up and down on C 
Avenue. A business man near the C Theatre has been bothered 








94 THE’ © XOSN Perro kh iey 


with them a great deal. They get whiskey some way or other and 
when intoxicated, tear up things in general. (A boys’ worker.) 


364. They terrorize the neighborhood, peddling “dope” by 
older members of the gang, and inducing the younger boys to begin 
“dope” forming habits. Neighbors are afraid to give open testimony 
against members of the gang. (A boys’ worker.) 


Serge (iio ae ’s life and property have been threatened by 
this gang because he had ten of them arrested. A woman cannot 
pass this corner without being insulted by part of this gang. 
Several of these boys chased Mr. R into his house cussing 
and threatening him. His wife was just inside the door and heard 
the language they were using and she is on the verge of a nervous 
breakdown because of these boys. (A police worker.) 


366. There used to be a military academy just a short ways 
from here and it was a fine building, wonderful windows and those 
fancy kinds of light things inside and every night we used to go 
up there and throw bricks at it just for the fun of hearing them 
break. We sure did destroy a lot of stuff up there. Finally they 
had to put some night watchmen up there. Little kids like us 
destroy more stuff than older guys do steal. (A boy.) 








VI. INFLUENCE ON MEMBERS 


The gang rules its individual members with a relentless hand. 
Conventional morals regarding the property of non-gang members 
are taboo. A boy must not waver between conventional standards 
and the gang’s standards. If he does he is a “sissy,” and sent home 
to “mamma.” 


On the other hand, the gang’s morals regarding its own mem- 
bership are not particularly different from those of adult clubs and 
cliques. Loyalty to the group and leader, no “snitchin,” fair play 
between members—all sound familiar to adults. 


Ganging creates bravado. A boy by himself is likely to be 
meek or sullen, but in a gang he plays a high hand. Daring gives 
status in a gang, 


The gang sooner or later gets into trouble and then its mem- 
bers are put on the defensive. They develop an unjust treatment 
complex, and must stick together in seeking vengeance. More 
serious trouble ensues, and greater gang loyalty develops. When 
the “cops” arrive, the gang takes the “defensive” against society. 

The gang influences boys to become truant from school. It 
is “a lot more fun to get down in our cave than to sit up there 
in school.” Assistant supervisors of attendance find that a large 
proportion of malicious truancy as distinguished from truancy 
caused by sickness, economic necessity of parents and so on, origin- 
ates with the gangs. Two or more boys play truant together. 


“Shooting craps” is a common gang activity. A boy who does 
not know how, can not remain a member long without participat- 


THE GANG 95 


ing. Many boys learn to use liquor as gang members. ‘Through 
54 ye iy 
the gang, boys sometimes learn to use “dope.” | 


367. The boy says that he is not bad at first; not when he 
first starts out, but that if he sticks with the gang the older ones 
take him into all kinds of trouble. (A boys’ leader.) 


368. We met at the same hobo camp, and had a general dis- 
cussion on our folks’ attitude towards us and our revolt. At about 
eight o’clock we made our way towards a strawberry patch which 
was only half a mile away. On entering the patch one of the boys 
said it was not right for us to take anything that didn’t belong to 
us. So we told him to go home to mama. (A boy.) 


369. When you get these boys off one at a time they are 
rather sheepish, but get them together and they are brave as can 
be. I am up against it in order to get them off one at a time 
though. (A boys’ worker.) 


370. If the boy is not a member of a constructive gang, he 
will get in with some gang and when it has nothing to do it will 
find something to do. Some one suggests something and the mob 
psychology is in operation. They will do things together that they 
would not do separately, as a man will lead a mob in a lynching 
but would never assault a man alone. Most of the fellows will not 
object very strenuously to some devilment that is not too bad, but 
once let them be chased by the cops or cornered for a little thing 
and they are likely to do something that will later lead to trouble. 
Again he may get in with a gang that frequently goes to the beach 
and gets stewed and in all kinds of scrapes; the direction that a 
gang is doing is the chief thing; it is much easier to go down than 
up. (A boys’ worker.) 

371. These two other fellows living in this neighborhood were 
the only fellows out here to play with. I started chasing around 
with them and thought that at first I could bring them up to my 
level, but instead I went down to theirs. Only it was worse. I do 
not think any of us would have done the things that we did to- 
gether, if we started separately; one of the fellows was worse than 
the other two of us but together we did worse things than he would 
have attempted alone. We started hooking motometers and ac- 
cessories off of cars and several times we had to hide until the cops 
got by. Then we went out for bigger game and went to the back 
door of a store and then broke into a house. (A boy.) 


SYAAG? OI stated that he began to get into trouble when he 
stayed out late in the evening and ran around with the rest of the 


kids. One of them suggested something and the others followed. 
(A boys’ worker.) 


373. This gang of fellows I am talking about started with one 
good Christian kid who had about seven or eight other good kids 
about him, but they began to box and let in a few who were ques- 
tionable characters, but good boxers, and these fellows have run 





96 THE BONWIN Dit GLY 


away with things. It is just like anything else, lots easier to go 
bad with it than to keep it going right; particularly is this true 
when they do purely physical work. The club arose out of the 
lack of stimuli in the community, and the boys had to have some- 
thing to do. (A boy’s worker.) 


VII. Truancy 


374. The influence of the gang and individual companions of 
harmful character, operate as causes of truancy. An interesting 
case was followed for a period of several weeks, before the actual 
cause for absence from school was ascertained. A gang of twelve 
boys from grades four, five and six were frequently absent from 
school. They were known by children in the, school, to be a 
regularly organized gang, and had a rendezvous somewhere in the 
vicinity of the school. They were very careful to keep this place 
secret, and only after much searching was the place found. A day 
soon came when “the gang” was absent, so the attendance officer 
was sent for and with the aid of some older boys, the cave was 
raided. ‘Chagrined and heart-broken they were made to bring 
forth their stolen treasures. Numbered among the articles was a 
setting hen, a dozen of eggs; pet rabbits, guinea pigs, and all 
manner of small live-stock. Of course, these animals needed much 
attention, so that was one reason for truancy from school. Many 
red lanterns had been taken from the streets, chains, tools of all 
kinds, and anything and everything around the neighborhood that 
could be picked up and conveyed to the cave. (An assistant super- 
visor of attendance.) 


VIII. Liovor 


375. Some kids drink like fish, some of them I have seen about 
half soused. They would frequently break into cellars and steal 
the stuff, then there was always plenty of it in their own homes— 
that they could get a hold of. (A boy.) 


376. These kids drink lots of bootleg whiskey; a number of 
them have offered me a drink from a flask which they have in their 
pocket, and I have smelled it on a number of kids who had been 
drinking. It is easy to-see where they get it, for some of these 
houses around here have stills and mother and father and all the 
kids drink the junk. (A boys’ worker.) 


377. When we go out in a group, one treats all the rest of the 
company. And when we have parties, we have booze. We get to- 
gether at some boy’s or girl’s house and we eat, play games of all 
sorts and have a drink. Some of the girls drink too, not all of 
them; it depends on the girl. We can get all the liquor we need. 
Just the other day there was a raid on a bootlegger but they did 
not find more than a pint of whiskey. They won’t hang a man for 
that. They asked us boys where the whiskey is and we would not 
tell, even if they killed us. (A boy.) 


THE GANG 97 


IX. GAMBLING 


378. You know there is a theatre on P street where these 
boys congregate for gambling in the evening. Of course the worst 
thing about it is the fact that they live so close to the downtown 
district where there are so many distractions and temptations. (A 
parent. ) 





379. There is considerable gambling among the fellows in the 
gang. Sometimes a kid will come around with several dollars 
which he has won off the rest of the gang, almost cleaning the 


rest up. They shoot craps a lot, then lag for a time. (A boys’ 
worker.) | 


X. CIGARETTE SMOKING 


Boys learn cigarette smoking as members of groups. It is a 
“social” habit. If nature objects to a boy learning the habit, her 
objections are overruled by the boy’s desire for status in the eyes 
of the other boys who smoke. 


In the gang, smoking of cigarette stubs from the gutter and 
of cheap tobacco is common. It is often begun by boys seven and 
eight years old. The process is generally learned from an older boy. 


Parents, as a rule, object but cannot compete with the in- 
fluence of the gang. A boy whose mother and father both smoke 
cigarettes can exert little influence to the contrary. 


_ The habit leads to one of a gang’s minor activities, stealing 
cigarettes and tobacco. Stores broken into by gangs are stripped 
first of their cigarette and tobacco supplies. 


379a. I got to smoking cigarattes like everything when I was 
in this gang, too. I am trying to quit it now though. All the fel- 
lows smoked. I have done it for a long time. (A boy.) 

380. Almost every kid smokes, several come over here on the 
grounds and I see them smoking when they were only about 
nine years old. A fellow I talked to said, “Now you know your 


mother would not like for you to smoke, don’t your” “Huh, my 
mother smokes cigarettes herself all the time.’ (A playground 
worker.) 


381. Most of them learned to smoke several years ago and 
largely when they were out with a gang and someone gave them 
a cigarette and they, wanting to be considered men, smoked for 
the first time and now have the habit. They think it smart to 
sneak over across the street to gamble and smoke and get a thrill 
out of it if they can get away with it. (A boy.) 

382 Some hard-boiled kids will do anything; you can’t put 
much past them; but underneath they have hearts of gold. Boys 
are not bad inherently. They are not really tough like you would 
expect, nor like an adult criminal; their toughness is all on the 
exterior, underneath they are just kids. Most of these hard boiled 
ones swagger about, rather boastful, steal some, cuss a very great 


98 THE BOW SUNG@ ro ee Cr iy 


deal, (this seems common to almost all of them) smoke (they 
think it is smart), some of them have the habit, more smoke only 
in a crowd and do it because they think it makes them hard- 
boiled. I never knew a boy to smoke for the fun of it. (A boy.) 


XI. STEALING 

Stealing is perhaps the gang’s most common major activity. 
‘The things that are stolen are usually sold to junk dealers and 
others in order to get a little money to spend. Boys’ wants, 
like those of adults, are more numerous than they were a few 
decades ago, but money is scarce for a large percentage of people. 
Wealthy boys steal for “the thrill,’ or as “ a gang escapade.” 

A younger boy is frequently made the tool of an older boy | 
or the leader of a gang, The shrewdness of a “ringleader” often 
keeps him “behind the scenes” and makes him the most difficult 
member of the gang to apprehend. ; 

Statistical records often indicate that stealing is a purely in- 
dividual offense, but personal interviews show the large role that 
group action plays. The early age at which stealing begins is sur- 
prising. Moreover, the age limit is going down, showing that 
boys are becoming disorganized at earlier ages than formerly. 

For the purpose of this report, one hundred cases were taken 
at random (by chance) which involved larceny or burglary. 


Of these one hundred cases: 


1 was 8 years old 12 were 13 years old 
2 were 9 years old ‘13 were 14 years old 
3 were 10 years old 18 were 15 years old 
2 were 11 years old 24 were 16 years old 
11 were 12 years old 14 were 17 years old 


In other words, of these one hundred boys, sixty-two per cent 
were fifteen years of ago or younger. One boy of fourteen years 
has committed not less than twenty-one burglaries, larceny, or 
forgery acts. A relatively large percentage of burglaries are 
committed by boys under fifteen years of age. In one case there 
were three boys whose ages were nine, ten and eleven, respectively. 


383. One night they let themselves down through the sky- 
light of a restaurant, robbed the cash register, went out through 
the skylight again and got away with it. There was a gang of 
about. four of them connected with this. (A merchant.) 


384. Lots of the stuff stolen is little junk, they really don’t 
rob houses very much or break into stores very much. For a 
time there was lots of copper around the railroad yards and the 
kids stole all of this that was loose. 

-385. None of the store keepers around here want to see us. 
Some kid will go in and buy a little package of cookies or a 
‘ couple of bananas and we would get our pockets full. It got so 
that some of the men would not even let us in the store. “Aw, 
what do you want, -get out of here.” (A boy.) 


THE GANG 99 


386. You ought to study the boys’ gang that has been com- 
mitting petty burglaries out in the district where I live. There 
are some houses there that have been entered four and five times 
during the last two or three months, They take small things. 
For example, one morning all the money was taken out of the 
milk bottles for two or three blocks. (A home owner.) 


387. [am not a crook now, but I used to be when I was goin’ 
with the gang. Oh, they do all sorts of things, crooked and other- 
wise. I never used to steal before I started with the gang. And 
after I was arrested I had no choice. You see, a bunch of boys 
go together and they decide they want some things, everything 
from a pair of trousers to a radio set. They ain’t got the money 
but that ain’t going to step ‘em from wantin’ things and they 
make up their minds to get em. (A boy.) 

388. The gang do not get together*until after dark and gen- 
erally for some raiding or stealing. Much of this is done on cars, 
they go through the car and take anything that is loose or they 
can get loose. I was over in that building and watched them go 
through a string of cars parked outside. That store right over 
there was robbed one night by S————— and his gang; one of 
the other fellows told me about it. These kids will steal anything 
that they can sell. (A boys’ worker.) 


389. Most of them have a truancy record at school and 
burglary record with the police. One of them, twelve years old 
and in the fourth grade, broke a gum machine and took two dollars 
in pennies, entered a store, crawled through an eight-foot gate, 
tore a screen from the window and took fifteen dollars from the 
cash register. He told an officer that he spent the money on 
moving picture shows, at the lunch counter buying ham, tamales, 
and ice cream. He says there were two other boys with him 
but that they ran away when the police caught him. (A teacher.) 


390. Statistics show that a large percentage of criminals for 
the city come from this district, but relatively few offenses have 
occurred in this district. These kids steal lots of motormeters, 
and stuff out of cars. Then they take the car frequently for a 
joy ride, often getting it outside the district and abandoning it 
some place relatively near home. Bicycles are a common article 
Pooetealeaty teacher. ) 

391. “The boys are known for thefts, destruction of property, 
breaking into stores, molesting small private homes.” “Excite- 
ment, to them, looks as bright as a gem in the mud and they go 
after it pretty. heavily.” They steal anything they can get a hold 
of. A nine-year old boy broke into one of the drug stores down- 
town and loaded himself up with fountain pens, cigars, stationery, 
toilet articles and any cash he could find. Then he took the stolen 
articles and hid them in the church yard. A good many boys 
break the gum machines and get the pennies; sometimes they get 
as much as three or four dollars. (A boys’ worker.) 


100 ‘PHE BOYVSUINGRH Ee GT Try. 


392. We went into another store and then one after another. 
Altogether we had about $500 worth of stuff before they caught’ 
us. Long before we were caught we dug a big cave over in one 
of the hills and cached the stuff there. We got a big colt revolver 
but did not have any amunition for it; the next week after we 
were caught we were planning to break into the high school 
armory and get enough shells so that we could shoot rabbits 
and stuff up by our cave. One of the detectives caught us, first 
getting wind of our cave and putting branches along the way so 
that he could tell when we were in the cave. During the time 
we were copping. stuff one thought was in my mind and that 
was to bea real hold-up man. (A boy.) 


XII. RECONSTRUCTION | 


Ganging is natural and hence simply needs to be put to con- 
structive purposes. <A _ skillful boys’ work leader can draw one 
member after another of a gang or perhaps the whole gang in 
its earlier stages of development into a boys’ club, scout troup, 
or similar organizations. Many of the best boys’ leaders look for 
the gang as soon as they meet a boy, and work through the group 
of pals even in dealing with the individual. 


In working with a gang it is important to understand its 
social environment and then to view it as “a unique and relatively 
independent unit’ with its own codes of conduct with reference 
to the “outside” world. It is necessary to study how these codes 
are in conflict with those of the social environment of the gang. 


The establishment of playgrounds open in the evenings will 
meet the gang problem to an extent. If there are sufficient lead- 
ers at the playground so that the boys of the whole local com- 
munity may be organized into competitive clubs and enough 
community work can be done, then the problem can be met. The 
more playground, community organizers, and case workers for 
boys, the less serious the gangs. 


393. From my angle the main need is to direct the gang 
spirit. We all belong to groups or gangs and if that spirit can be 
directed the problem is solved. (A parent.) 


394, I think that there had ought to be a pdayground or 
trained boys’ leader put into that locality, so as to meet the needs 
of those boys and keep them out of trouble. (A boys’ worker.) 

395. Whenever I want to work with a boy I work with his 
gang. I find out who the fellows are that he chums with and 
get the group interested and the individual boy falls into the 
group program easily. (A boys’ worker.) 

396-7. We have not had much trouble with gangs in this 
neighborhood since we put in the playground here. ‘The play- 
ground breaks up the gang. They come here and play together 
and the narrow gang spirit breaks down. (A playground worker.) 


WORK 101 


CHAPTER VII 
The Boy and Work 


During adolescence the boy becomes anxious to earn “some 
money.’ He wants it to spend for something which he would 
not be able to have otherwise. He grows tired of asking for 
money. His first earned money gives him such a thrill that he 
wishes to earn more. Other boys are working, and with their 
,own money are making purchases that arouse envy. The money- 
making talk and spirit of “Dad” or older brothers at the dinner 
table are tantalizing stimuli. Poor parents, on the other hand, put 
their boys at work too soon. 


And so the boy starts; or, perhaps a “job” comes his way. 
He takes it, without much thought. Of the “Want Ads” clipped 
from a morning and evening newspaper in Los Angeles the largest 
single number of people (275) advertised for a boy with a wheel; 
the next largest number (111) for boys to sell papers; then (80) 
for messengers; and (39) for motorcycle delivery; after that (37) 
to work at soda fountains. These are nearly all “blind alley” 
jobs. As a rule they “may be learned in a few minutes and 
worked at forever.’ They do not lead to regular promotions. 
Many are physically dangerous and others are morally hazardous. 


398. The children are taken out of school as early as pos- 
sible, placed in shops and factories for very low wages and are 
subject to all the disadvantages of untrained workers. (A 
teacher.) 


399. They get a job and earn good money but outside of 
paying their board they seem to absolve themselves completely 
from any responsibility. Today, I had a case of a nineteen-year- _ 
old boy working in a bank for one hundred fifteen dollars a 
month. He did not care whether or not his mother became 
a pauper but he refused to carry any burden. (A boys’ worker.) 


400. A great many of them sell papers downtown and are ex- 
posed to all kinds of dangers, everything from drug addicts to 
prostitute trade. Many of these boys are messengers and [| think 
that the messenger boy is even in a more unwholesome atmos- 
phere than the newsboy because of the hotel rooms and apart- 
ments that he goes into; and the attack on him is easier than on 
the newsboy. Sometimes the very nature of the message he 
carries is detrimental to him. (A boys’ worker.) 


102 CHE BO YeUNe He Ciiay: 


401. Work known as the blind alley jobs seem to be the ones 
for which boys are advertised the most. These jobs have no 
opening beyond the little opportunity that they offer. The ads 
which were duplicated most often were those wanting boys to 
deliver papers, boys with wheels, boys to run errands, and these 
newspaper ads were run through the five months with hardly a 
break. (A research worker.) 


402. I have a boy eighteen years of age. He had three years 
of high school and he quit in his last year. A companion of his 
worked and induced my boy to get in too. He was crazy to work. 
Quit school and once you start earning money you lose sight of 
school. Money spoils our boys in America. He earned twenty- . 
five dollars a week to begin with. We begged him to go back 
to school but he said: “To the devil with school; can’t I live 
without it? Ain’t I making money enough without graduating?” 
GAS patente 


I. SEEKING WorkK 

The boy in search for work is inadequately guided. Many 
social welfare agencies have boys continually applying through’ 
them for “jobs.” The boy usually asks for messenger or errand 
work, stays while the job lasts, and then seeks another all over | 
again. 

Poor parents encourage their children to do whatever is at 
hand. These children have little scientific guidance. In the rural 
districts immigrant parents deliberately keep their children out of 
school. The travelling school that goes from one seasonal work 
to another is splendid—as far as it has been developed. 


Boys on probation have special difficulty in getting proper 
work. Stores are naturally suspicious and hence the boy trying 
“to make good” is seriously handicapped. 


The work permit situation gives a good chance to study 
conditions. Although application to work in the movies are 
numerous, the work usually lasts only a week or two, but the be- 
havior patterns that are set young boys are often far below normal. 
Permits are given in (1) necessity cases, (2) to “disciplinary 
problem” boys who prefer to work rather than to submit to 
“the necessary discipline” of the school, and (3) to boys who have 
become “indifferent to school through dullness.” The need for 
scientific adjustment of the boy to a life vocation is remarked 
by nearly everyone in touch with the situation. 


403. My big brother, he is sixteen years old, but he can’t 
find a job. He is looking all over but says there are no jobs 
to be had. He goes to part-time school and runs around with 
lots of bad boys. (A boy.) 


WORK 103 





404. Last spring they went to I to work in the 
cotton and they do it every year. None of the children go to 
school and there are about 14 of them. I asked them about it 
and they said, “Oh, the children hide out in the cotton.” Then 
last year they came back smiling, ‘““One went to school this year.” 
They had picked out the smartest one and sent him to school 
for the rest. ( A teacher.) 


405. If I can’t find a part-time job, I will have to quit school 
next year and go to work. I have always helped my father and 
I am uneasy because I am not making any money now. My 
father thinks I will have to quit school next year and go to work. 
He let me stay at school as long as possible but I don’t know what 
will turn up. I like to become a draftsman, but nobody can tell 


what might turn up and that’s the only thing that worries me. 
(A boy.) © 


406. One of our greatest needs is for proper work arrange- 
ments for boys on probation. We had such arrangements with 
certain stores. We would send the boy, tell all about him and 
ask them to‘*give the boy such work as they though he could 
do. The success of the plan all depends upon the different stores’ 
representatives. We find it hard to get the right kind of arrange- 
ments with stores. No one wants to bother with a boy on probha- 
tion. (A probation officer.) 


407. We have about twenty-five boys between the ages 
of twelve and eighteen years, every month, applying for jobs. 
Very few of them actually obtain employment through this bureau. 
Last month we supplied only five boys with jobs. ‘They come in 
here, usually of their own accord, and apply for messenger or 
errand boy; the older ones ask for printing positions, or as an 
electrician’s helper. Not many of them have gone very far in 
their school work but they are anxious to supplement the father’s 
income. They continue school part-time and some can earn as 
high as fifteen dollars a week. They are, as a rule, good workers 
and stay on the job as long as it lasts, but usually they are taken 
on only temporarily. Of course there are a great many boys 
who never apply here. They hear of openings from other boys 
and many other sources. (A social worker.) 


408. Last week there were many applications for work per- 
mits in connection with the movies. Most of the children were 
gone seven or eight days at a time. There is an improvement 
of conditions under which children work in the movies. Of course 
there have to be children in the movies or many pictures would 
not be true to life, and yet conditions are pretty bad. (A teacher.) 


409. The issuance of work permits is much along the usual 
lines; the applicant fills out a “face sheet” in the office, but there 
is little opportunity for investigation cf the accuracy of the state- 


104 THE BOY SINGER HAS Gry 


ments made therein or of the family situation which makes work 
necessary for the child. In general, the requirements of the state- 
law are fulfilled and the matter rests there. (A social worker.) — 
410. The greatest problem for the boy in this district is em- 
ployment. On a Monday morning I find several fellows in my 
office wanting work permits. Upon investigation I find that their 
fathers lost their job the preceding Saturday night and in family 
council it was decided that the boy obtain a work permit and go 
to school four hours a week.' Many of my students come from 
homes where the economic situation puts a burden on the young 
boys. Some of these homes are actually poverty stricken. I had 
a boy here who graduated yesterday. This boy is only eighteen 
and has worked his way through high school and is getting a 
diploma as a registered pharmacist as well. (A teacher.) 


Il. THE NEwssoy 


According to our Survey data, newsboys of twelve, thirteen 
and fourteen years of age remain on the downtown streets much 
later at night than they did ten years ago. Small boys selling 
newspapers at eleven o’clock at night (Saturdays) are living 
abnormally. 


The public rarely realizes that all the street corners down- 
town are “owned,” that is, that the right to sell papers on a 
given corner is an economic asset. The value of the various 
corners range up to $125, $175, and higher, and one, “you could 
not buy at any price.” The value of a corner depends on how 
many papers may be sold there daily. Originating in brute force, 
the ownership of corners now passes from owner to owner through 
a “dickering’ and purchasing process. 


Irregularity of hours, poor or little food, “shooting craps” 
in alleys “between times,” unfit places to sleep in—against all this 
what chance has the boy? 


411. One room that I came upon recently had twelve Mexican 
newsboys sleeping in it. There was no place for them to go that 
we could find. (A boys’ worker.) 


412. A thousand boys may come together and watch two 
try to knock each other down. It’s too bad. Here is a big chance 
for someone to do a real constructive piece of work for the boy. 
(A boy.) 

413. I went to the Baptist church for two years after we 
came out here and liked it, too; but after that I started selling 
the and never got through there until about eleven Sunday 
morning and it was too late to go then. (A boy.) 


414. I did not get home until one or two o’clock in the morn- 
ing. I would go to sleep and get up at seven and repeat the whole 
performance all over again. On Sundays I could sleep all day, so 
Saturday night I stayed out until 5:00 o’clock in the morning. 
(A boy.) 





WORK 105 


415. In the afternoon, after school, he goes out to “hustle 
sheets.” Now, I can tell you about the life I led for four years. 
I hustled. sheets on That is the rottenest neighborhood 
that you can find for a schoolboy. Up and down that street are 
prostitutes. (A boy.) 


416. Suppose that you pass a law prohibiting boys under 
certain ages from selling newspapers. That won’t do any good. 
The public won’t support it. They don’t see the accident danger 
to the child, that he’s engaged in one of the most hazardous occu- 
pations. They don’t see the moral danger, that he is associating 
with older boys who own the corner, and many of whom are regular 
“toughs” and regular patrons of places of vice. The public likes 
to think of the newsboy as a little merchant and allows its indi- 
vidualistic bent to warp its judgment. (A boys’ worker.) 


417. There is a great deal of competition among these women 
and they spare no means to secure trade. Some of these women 
come over to me on my corner and give me their cards to distribute 
to the men who ask me for a paper, then for a girl. These cards 
would show some “business,” such as manicuring, massage, etc. 
On the other side there is a sign of a horseshoe and the inscrip- 
tion, “Hope you like our business. Thank you. Come again.” 
Of course, everybody knew what “business” that was. Oh, I have 
distributed many of these cards. (A boy.) 


418. A fellow has to go home, and look what he finds on the 
way home. A good many fellows my age (eighteen) think, “Why 
should I get married? I can always get a girl, and I don’t make 
enough to support a home and stay home all the time.” A young 
fellow who as a boy sold papers down town has no “ideals” in 
connection with marriage and home. He has seen the rottenest 
side of married life since his early boyhood, and what appeal can 
such a hand have to him? (A boy.) 


419, The enthusiasm of the evening was in proportion with 
the number of attendance. Most of the bouts were put on by little 
newsboys; they fought much harder than men. A paid professional 
referee refereed the bouts and seemed to be continually stimulating 
the boys to fight harder. The referee delivered a short speech, 
the purpose of which was to raise money to support the club. His 
main and only appeal was to pride. (A boys’ worker.) 


420. ‘The younger the boy, the better his opportunities with 
bootleggers and prostitutes. Nobody will suspect a little boy 
delivering booze to a drug’ store or a grocery store, and these boys 
get into the game quite early. As a matter of fact a boy almost has 
to do it, if he wants to keep his down town corner. The younger 
boys are usually under an older boy, and they are hard to get along 
with. Another thing a boy has to do to keep his corner is be tough, 
have a cigarette in his mouth, or be chewing tobacco, to show the 
other boys that he is a tough guy and they can’t beat him up or 
take his money or get his corner. (A boy.) 





106 DHE BOVSENWEH TH Crisy. 


421. You want to know how prevalent those conditions are 
among the down town newsboys? Well, let me tell you right here 
that every one of those who have a corner on — and 
Streets, and all around there, is involved in some such situation 
unless he is a dummy or a half-wit. Those boys who work down 
town get into the worst and rottenest work. They meet up with 
the scum of the world. They go to rot. They see the other boys. 
have a good time and make lots of money, and they won’t buckle 
down and mind their business. If they can earn fifteen dollars an 
evening, they don’t see why they have to work hard. They’d rather 
work three or four evenings a week and make their money and 
have a good time at it. (A boy.) 


422. I don’t want a job as long as I can get three and a half 
a day here. Why, ah, this corner brings thirty dollars a week. 
Naw, I only get half of that. This corner brings in fourteen dollars 
on Saturday night, and then about two and a half every other night. 
I don’t get away from here until three or four o’clock in the 
morning, Saturday night. See the man over there with the red 
sweater? He’s my boss; he sure has it soft. He sits over there 
and just sells a few papers, and then gets half of all the money the 
rest of the boys get around the square. Yea, he owns all these 
corners around here. Oh, this corner is worth about two hundred 
dollars. (A boy.) 

423. Many different things happen to a boy when he sells 
papers down town. I was approached, I don’t know how many 
times, by prostitutes to work on commission basis for them. Many 
girls don’t work for themselves. They have a boss who rents sey- 
eral rooms, and he solicits the trade and gives the girls commis- 
sions. Each one has a room in a hotel, sometimes in the swellest 
hotels in the city. She has to*have someone to drum up trade for 
her, so she herself approaches the newsboy and offers him half 
of what she can make for customers sent up. She also asks the cab 
drivers. They ordinarily carry a list of these girls, and when a 
man asks them to take them to a girl the cab driver pulls out a 
card and the man takes his choice. ‘The cabman usually knows. 
how to get the man stewed up, and many times the girl and the 
taximan strip the customer of everything he has and leave him 
there to come to his senses. (A boy.) 


424. I was just thirteen years old when I started on my 
corner, and remained there for four years. I left the Orphan 
Home and had no means of support. I was just entering high 
school and had to make some money. Hustling sheets was the 
only thing to do. I got up about seven o’clock in the morning, 
went to high school and studied until my first class. I took my 
five solids straight through, and sometimes stayed for athletics. 
Then I studied for the next day until about three o’clock. ‘Then 
left school, grabbed something to eat, a hot dog and a roll, or 
a dry sandwich, and went to get my papers. You are lined up and 
you lose some time before you get your bundle. Then I went over 








WORK 107 


to my corner and started in. I would sell papers until about eleven 
or twelve o'clock. Then the boss would come around, and usually 
he was drunk, and I drove the car and he collected the money from 
the various boys on the corners, and I would drive him home. I 
was the only one whom he could really trust. (A boy.) 


III. Work anv RACE PRoBLEMS 


The colored boy, particularly, is handicapped vocationally. 
Many vocations are closed to him. In others he has little chance 
of advance. To get an education and find that one has to do 
unskilled work for life is discouraging. 


There is a vicious circle, for hopelessness leads to inefficiency, 
and inefficiency precludes advancement. On other grounds, to be 
sure, many colored workers are “lazy and backward,” but if the 
pall of prejudice did not hang over the race they might furnish a 
surprisingly large percentage of “efficients.” 

Then, recognizing conditions as they are, it may be said that 
there is a greater influx of colored workers, including older boys, 
than the demands for colored labor would justify. This situation 
creates unemployment. 


Mexican boys are not much better off. Japanese are worse off. 
The opportunities for professional advancement are few, and the 
limitations created by race prejudice are many. 


425. About the best job a colored boy may look forward to 
is as a janitor or elevator operator; such jobs only pay eighty to 
ninety dollars a month, and if there is any family at,all, this is 
not sufficient, and the wife must work, and the boys go to “the 
devil.” (A boys’ worker.) 


426. These boys are not satisfied. to do the things that their 
fathers did before them, and yet they are not fitted to do anything 
better. Under our present system all the Mexican may do is to 
go along through the earlier years of his life and some day find a 
ditch and fall into it and pick up a shovel and go to work. (A 
boys’ worker.) 


427. I never tell my boys here that by going to high school 
they can make more money. I tell them that they will enjoy life 
more by going to school, but that is all. Otherwise, they will come 
in and say, “Look at Manuel, Miss M. He went to high school, 
and he works in the brickyard the same as Pedro, who never went 
to school.” But I tell them that Manuel enjoys life more, for he 
can read and appreciate things more. (A teacher.) 


428. ‘There are a number of reasons for the unemployment. 
Whenever work for the whites becomes scarce, they crowd over 
and take our jobs and put us out of work. Many of our positions 
are now filled with white men and women. The maids in the big 
department stores used to be Negresses, but are now white girls; 
the waiters in the big restaurants used to be colored, but are now 


108 Hi. BO Ve ENG GE a big 


white, and so on through. the list. We do not complain, but it is 
very hard not to be able to get work to buy food to eat. (A boy.) 

429. The colored boy comes back worse, oftener than better. 
The reason for this is that the white boy is taught a trade, but 
the colored fellow is taught to be a cook or porter on the Pullman. 
This does not appeal to the colored boy. He wants to do the same 
thing that the others do, and when he can’t, he loses heart and gets 
discouraged, and goes from bad to worse. He gets indifferent to 
punishment or to social disapproval, and when he gets out he is 
reckless. Prison has no terrors for him; why should he worry? 
There is no future for him, anyway. (A boys’ worker.) 


430. There’s very little advancement for me. A chum of 
mine has been working for years for an air compressor company. 
He started out as a delivery boy, and never worked up. He is an 
expert mechanic, but he is still at the salary of a delivery boy. 
The boss tells him when there is opening next time he'll be pro- 
moted, but many next times have come and gone and he is still 
delivery boy. Oh, education is all right at any time, but I think 
that when I graduate from high school I’ll go in business with my 
father and brother. I work after school, but the only thing I can 
get working for a white man is washing cars. You have no idea 
how it feels to know that people look down upon you. I don’t 
always remember it. I don’t carry it with me all the time, but it 
stares me in the face, and people demonstrate their prejudice in — 
many ways. (A boy.) 


IV. THe Furure 


Adjustment of a boy to his life work is an outstanding need. 
The Part-Time School has developed splendidly along this line, but 
its representatives feel the immensity of the problem. From the 
“positions” side it is entirely handicapped. It does not know how 
many workers for each type of work are in reality needed. A 
survey of positions open to boys, and then kept up to date, would 
render boys yeoman service; this would also be valuable to. 
industry. 

Then the demands of boys for positions are so great that there 
is not much time to study the personal traits that are basic to each 
type of occupation or to evaluate positions in terms of “blind 
alley” jobs and of boys’ welfare and their future. Moreover, an. 
analysis of the traits of each boy so that he can be adjusted prop- 
erly in occupational ways is an equally great need. 

Boys’ demand for jobs are so urgent that attention has to be 
centered on “jobs” rather than on life work—positions for today, 
irrespective of whether the boy’s real needs will be met. 

A new attitude on the part of employers is needed—a bigger 
and broader attitude—one that will put the boys’ welfare above 
the interests of business and industry; one that will see in the boy 
and his future a chance to serve, even though business must be. 
made secondary. 


WORK 109 


431. In regard to vocational counseling, we cannot do any- 
thing like that until a scientific study is made of vocations in this 
city. (A teacher.) 


432. One of our greatest problems is to find a proper job for 
the boy. Nearly all of them now go out and take a job, and it is 
the first thing that they find, rather than the thing which they need 
or which they are prepared for. Many get into blind alley jobs and 
stay there, such as peddling jobs, messenger service, and so forth. 
We need to keep them going out of blind alley jobs into work where 
they will have a chance of promotion. (A teacher.) 


433. Employment is hard to get. The part-time law is diffi- 
cult to meet, because the employer wants a full-time boy. Messen- 
ger service is about all boys can find. Our problem is getting work 
permits for the boys and then getting sab after we get the 
permits. (A teacher.) 


434. My greatest problem is to get the boy industrially 
adjusted. When I get him at work at something that interests him, 
I have no more trouble with him as a rule. But the troubie with 
most jobs for boys is that they are no d good. They’re merely 
blind alley jobs. Boys are sometimes used by druggists to peddle 
narcotics, and while doing so they learn the use of dope, steal auto- 
mobiles, and get into sex difficulties. (A boys’ worker.) 





435. At present we do not know how many of any occupation 
are needed; we do not know whether we need 500 typesetters or 
50. Then we do not know the probable income; we know the 
maximum, and probably the minimum, but we do not know how 
much this fellow will probably make. Before we can give good 
advice we need to know all these facts regarding our vocational 
life. So far we have done a good deal of that through the office 
here; we have talked to hundreds of boys in regard to their voca- 
tional trends, but more is needed than just talking to them. (A 
teacher.) 


436. There is a big lack of co-operation between boys and 
business men. Each have a different point of view, and they mis- 
understand each other. The present plan of putting boys to work 
is entirely haphazard. I called up a friend of mine the other day 
and said I had a boy to put to work, and could he give him some. 
He said “Yes,” and he gave the boy some work, and that’s the way 
it goes. A boy and “some work,” but no connection between the 
efficiency of the boy or his vocational needs and the nature of the 
work. We gave a party for boys at the Settlement, and they 
brought their girls, but when they left they took both the girls and 
all the silver, and that’s the way they showed their ephreciation of 
what we did for them. (A business man.) 


110 ELE TB OSEAN WER Or aay 


CHAPTER VIII 
The Boy and Boys’ Weltare Agencies 


Because the home, school and church frequently fail to cope 
with boys’ needs, boys’ work has developed. The failure of the reg- 
ular social institutions to meet the leisure time needs of boys has 
called forth a variety of programs and organizations, each with its | 
own constructive program, carried forward by public-spirited 
leaders. 

I. THE PLAYGROUND 


The playground was one of the boys’ first welfare agencies. 
The rise of the city and development of business houses and resi- 
dences crowded out the children. The public playground was an 
answer to this need. 

When a city grows swiftly, with many people intent upon 

their own immediate gain, it is only a few who look forward fifty 
years and conserve the welfare of the next generation by urging 
that there be set aside now adequate play spaces for the morrow. 
As it is, playground commissions find it necessary to spend large 
sums of money “buying back” land that was once common property 
and could have been “‘set aside” only a few years ago without cost, 
for the use of youth. 
‘~ - The increasing value of land even drives out well established 
and greatly needed playgrounds. In sections of the city where 
homes are shacks and home supervision is missing, where preda- 
tory gangs are increasing and playgrounds are urgent, it would 
seem that something is wrong “somewhere, somehow,” for play- 
grounds have to be closed because business requires the space. 

The playgrounds do not operate themselves; directors, assist- 
ant directors and boys’ leaders are also needed. In fact, trained 
social case workers (men) are needed to study the personal prob- 
lems of boys and to go into the homes and help make adjustments. 
The scientific and trained case worker will avoid “meddling” and 
“loafing around,” but become the hardest working and most usetul 
person in certain ways in the community. Leadership needs are 
acute in the evenings, as well as on Saturdays and Sundays, when 
the playground population multiplies. At night the gangs are out 
and at their worst, and the playground director 1s unable to meet 
the situation for the whole community. 

The rudimentary psychology of the playground is that it keeps 
boys busy. It keeps them doing something wholesome during their 
leisure hours. It keeps them from “ganging,” destroying property, 
and developing predatory habits. It keeps their energies in opera- 
tion under supervision. 


WELFARE AGENCIES 111 


A co-ordination of the public playgrounds and of the. school 
playgrounds (also public) is also important. ‘This is a serious 
administrative problem. After an adequate co-ordination has been 
made, the playground needs of the youth still will not be met in 
the poorer sections, especially where land values are high and pop- 
ulation congested. Splendid progress is being made; the tremen- 
dous growth of the city and the changes going on keep the needs 
of the boys several “jumps ahead” of the programs for them. A 
complete playground system for the city would do much to elimi- 
nate predatory gangs and probably would cut mage ee. far 
below the present records. 


The playground director is an institutional manager and local 
community leader. Great versatility is required of him, and as his 
work grows, he needs assistant directors for boys’ and young men’s 
work. Again, he needs psychological and sociological training of 
the best, or else he will not understand clearly what his work is all 
about. He must be imbued with the idea that he is “making men, 
not money,’ and because of this goal ought not to be penalized 
with a small salary. The training requirements should steadily be 
raised, and salaries accordingly. The playground director is often 
the “key man” of the whole community’s welfare. With an ade- 
quate staff he could work out into the homes of the people and 
transform conditions, make personality adjustments, and help 
build a new and greater constituency. 

437. There is no playground in this part of the city; we need 
one, but they tell us that land is too expensive to buy one, (A boy.) 

438. There is no playground except the one at the school, and 
the older boys don’t like to play there, so they just hang around the 
corners. There is no place for them. (A boys’ worker.) 

439. The grounds have been closed and there are eighty or- 
ganized ball groups in that region and no place to play. More land 
will be bought out near there but it takes a lot of time. (A boys’ 
worker.) 7 

440. We need an assistant director on Saturdays and Sundays 
for there are too many children here for us to handle alone. The 
rest of the week we make out alright. (A playground worker.) 

441. The police say that there is lots less trouble in the: com- 
munity since we have had the playground. Of course, you can’t 
change things over night but there is a great improvement. (A 
boy.) 

442. Many of the boys that I have, if not all of them, are, not 
participating in organized play. When they get into organized 
playground work, that keeps them busy and they make no more 
trouble for me. No job and no organized play is almost certain 
to mean stealing. (A playground worker.) 

443. The only green spot is the lawn. in front of the eaten 
library, but the library won't let us play on it. We would wear-it 


P12 DHE BOY!INGTHE CIry 


off, it is true. Some of the boys do get to destroying things, but 
they have to have somewhere to play, don’t they? (A boy.) 


444. The facilities for recreation in this neighborhood are very 
poor. We need more space to play and to have supervised play. 
The school grounds are open until dark for the boys but not many 
play here for there is no one to supervise and to keep things going 
and interesting. (A boys’ worker.) 


445. We need more help on the playground’ on Saturday and 
Sunday for then there are big crowds here but the rest of the week _ 
they are much smaller and we can handle them all right. We also 
need some man to help us with our boys’ clubs which meet in the 
evening. (A playground director.) 


446. ‘The only place for us to play is out in the street and we 
get out here with the ball and can’t always control where it will 
go and sometimes it gets into some flowers and the lady will come 
out after us with a broom and we would just run up the street a 
ways and then come back just to torment her. (A boy.) 


447, At one of the schools they have opéned up a small play- 
ground by condemning some houses, but it is only about big 
enough for an indoor ball court, and will be only an after-school 
affair, thus leaving out the adults or above school age and the little 
fellows. Besides this school 1s across Street and most of the 
kids will not cross it. The only place they have to play is in the 
street now, with all the injury and moral trouble attendant upon 
such activity. (A boys’ worker.) 





448. What we heed down in this district is a large playground 
of about fifteen acres with room for two baseball diamonds, a play- 
ground ball diamond, a soccer field, a hand ball court, croquet field, 
apparatus, sand pile, and horse shoes, and then a big gymnasium. 
In this gym we ought to have a bowling alley, some pool tables, a 
large floor and a swimming pool. This should be open at night 
and give them some place to go and not leave them at the mercy 
of the street corner. This is needed not only by the boys but by 
the adults as well. (A playground worker.) 


449. The Playground Commission is progressive and are 
planning to open up eight or ten new playgrounds very soon now. 
I believe that they are pursuing the right policy of buying up the 
ground before the community becomes very large and the land ex- 
pensive or hard to secure. It is hard to do anything to get play- 
grounds in those parts of the city where they are at present needed 
most, but we can secure land in the newer parts where it is for 
sale cheap and then when the city grows about the palyground the 
kids will have a place to play. Something ought to be done toward 


securing more playgrounds in our foreign districts. (A playground 
worker.) 


WELFARE AGENCIES 113 


THE PLAYGROUND DIRECTOR 


450. If we had an assistant director we could do three times 
what we're doing in the way of organizing adults and getting them 
interested in the boys. (A playground worker.) 

451. I pick out the fellows that are really the best on the play- 
ground and talk with them and win their confidence and help them 
to see the things that I want to get across, then they pass it on to 
one another and so on until, pretty soon, the whole group comes to 
know it. (A playground leader.) 


452. The great problem is to get adequate leaders. The 
more capable are like Mr, A Many accept but have ten thou- 
sand other things to do. As a pastor I attend the boys’ meetings 
myself and keep in touch with what they are doing and they ap- 
preciate it. (A pastor.) 


453. I have felt a lot like it a few times, but the best way is 
to bring social disapproval to bear against them, or better to get 
them off to one side or to come into my office and talk things over 
frankly, and then put it up to them to help me out in keeping order 
or putting some thing across. There have been times when a kid 
who might have caused a great deal of trouble became my best 
helper. (A playground worker.) 

455. But just as important as the technical training is the at- 
titude and desire that the worker has to help men, or rather boys 
or girls, to become real men and women. Lots of fellows think 
that they would like to be directors while they are in school but 
when they get out working with dirty kids they do not like it so 
well. A man must be able to see that in playground work he is 
making men, not money. Then, if we could pay higher salaries we 
could insist on more work in the evenings for working people and 
group work for boys to keep them off the streets, Then a director 
must be able to work into the community and interest the mem- 
bers of that community in the work of the playground and what- 
ever evening classes he may have. He must be able to create ina 
sense a demand for the playground in the neighborhood. (A boys’ 
worker.) 





II. Boy Scouts 


The Boy Scout movement, dedicating all its energies to boys 
-and boys alone, has a remarkable power of concentration within a 
single area of social life. Its success has depended largely upon 
its leadership. As this has been dynamic the movement has gone 
forward with long strides. The program is varied and permissive 
of versatile adjustments to neighborhood needs. It has struck 
boys from 12 to 15 years of age with a vim. 


The scouting emphasis on activity in a wide choice of fields 
is one of its strongest points. The boy learns to do useful things. 
He is kept busy a little time at least in addition to the scout meet- 
ing hours. The work that scouting represents is a character 


114 THE BOVYCIN “GLE Clin, 


builder. The training in manners and respect for social values is 
far-reaching. Most important of all, perhaps, is the training in 
leadership. ‘The patrol is the unit and each member sooner or later 
has a chance at leadership. Boys criticize their patrol leaders 
and the latter “take it” from other boys good-naturedly. As leader- 
ship develops in any boy, advancement and further opportunities 
to lead are the rewards. 

The rewards and merits are positive and the recognition that 
the boys receives from his fellows operates as one of the greatest 
forces in the world. The forward-moving swing to scouting at its 
best 1s commendatory. 

Many parents at first misunderstand scouting. They interpret 
the uniform and “troops” and drilling and patrols as decidedly 
militaristic and that the movement is primarily a subtle feeder for 
the army. While a few never overcome this reaction, most do 
when they become acquainted with scout activities. Some object 
because the uniforms and camp outfits cost money, but this is not 
a serious matter except with those who are economically helpless. 
The leaders, it is interesting to note, refer to the uniforms as 
democratizing, as putting all on the same level in appearance; and 
to the patrols as affording full and democratic opportunities to 
each boy for leadership to develop. The “military” terminology in 
which scouting originated will doubtless undergo changes as its 
non-military character expands. 

Some parents object to scouting because “it is not religious.” 
The situation is one largely of misunderstanding. The scout 
program is one that may be attached to any religion, and its de- 
velopment among Protestant and Catholic alike, and even Jew, 
is significant. The fact that most of its troops (in Los Angeles, 
for example) are connected with churches indicates its tendencies. 

Scouting meets the gang needs of boys. It takes them at the 
gang age and gives them something to do. A skillful scoutmaster 
can even work upon a predatory gang and transform them into a 
constructive troop. 

An excellent opportunity is available for fathers and scout- 
masters to work together for the boys’ good, but this assumes a 
greater interest than many fathers show and more time and skill 
than scoutmasters can give. The parent who becomes a scout- 
master is in a strategic position for understanding boys. 

Boy Scouts are organized more largely in connection with 
churches than any other institution, but many churches still have 
inadequate places for meeting. Boys object to the school building 
as a meeting place because it reminds them of the day’s work, and 
they want a change. 

Boys beyond fifteen, as in other connections, tend to drop out 
of scouting. A new type of organization, program, and leadership 
is needed for the older boys. Seascouting and the “Rovers” will 
help. The boy is becoming “grown up” and the girl problem enters 


WELFARE AGENCIES . 115 


in. The psychology of the older boy has never been studied. In- 
tensive surveys are needed here as bases for adequate programs. 

To secure well trained leaders is the problem of all boys’ 
welfare agencies, and the Boy Scouts are no exception to the rule. 
The successes of a troop vary with the scoutmasters it has. As 
disciplinarians they vary greatly. In understanding boy nature 
few are entirely competent. Not many are trained in the psy- 
chology and psychiatry of youth. Not many have the time to un- 
dergo a substantial course of training, and moreover, such training 
courses still remain to be worked out. 


Many leaders begin with enthusiasm, but in a few months or 
a year drop out. Many follow the “program” but are not inven- 
tive in. using the program under the given conditions. Few are 
able to do much “follow-up” work in the homes. Both the oppor- 
tunities and rewards to leadership are many, but there are many 
problems. A major problem is: How to get men interested and 
trained, and to stay with the work. ‘The problem is also that of 
volunteer service anywhere, and may mean that salaried bases will 
have to be worked out. However, as Boy Scouts grow up they 
are becoming scoutmasters and will solve the difficulty in part, if 
not entirely. 


456. Our manual is being completely revised. Instead of em- 
phasizing programs, which is almost impossible for all the different 
sections of the country, it is going to give emphasis on methods. 
(A scoutmaster. ) 7 


457. She knew that the parents would object to the Boy 
Scout’s uniform and drilling but she felt that the parent’s feelings 
should be sacrificed when the boy’s welfare is involved. (A 
teacher.) 


458. The organization places no limitation upon the enroll- 
ment of colored troops. Failure to have a larger number merely 
expresses a failure to secure colored men who will act as leaders 
and sponsors of such troops. (A scout.) 


459. ‘The Boy Scout Movement, however, has got into public 
opinion and it stands for definite and constructive things among 
people generally. Its place in public opinion is illustrated by the 
fact that the advertising man wants to use the word “Scout” in 
many commercial ways. (A scout executive.) 


460. One parent said recently, “What are you doing to my 
boy?” I thought he meant that | was being harmful, but he ex- 
plained that the boy was more respectful at home and-.wondered 
how I was bringing about the transformation. The uniform is a 
good thing because it puts all boys on the same appearance level. 
(A scoutmaster.) 

461. We shall attempt to get more of the fathers’ interest. 
At present they pass the buck to us; we are trained, they claim, 
and ought to take all the responsibility for their sons, but through 


116 THE BOYAN) THE SGIEFY. 


these organizations I think we can get the parents. to co-operate 
conscientiously with us. (A scoutmaster.) 


462. No matter what a boy is interested in, there is some- 
thing in the Scouts to meet that interest. A boy can get his Merit 
Badge in any one of sixty-nine different fields. Some of these are 
Radio, Botany, Signaling, First Aid, Civics, Public Health, Camp- 
ing, Cycling, Bird Study, Swimming, Forestry, Astronomy, Auto- 
mobiling, Personal Health, Athletics, Music and Bugling, Marks- 
manship, Taxidermy, Hiking, Archery, and Wireless. (A scout- 
master. ) 


463. Scouting has helped parents out in working with their 
boys. Frequently a parent says, when the boy is doing something 
contrary to best conduct, “Is that like a Scout?” On the other 
hand parents use this method too much. They refer to the boy as 
a Scout so often that he turns against Scouting sometimes. ‘They 
use it as a whip, as it were, and the results are bad. (A scout- 
master. ) 


464. The boys are admitted at twelve and never graduate. 
They begin to drop out at fifteen years of age but at about eighteen 
to come back as assistant leaders. There is a pretty big sag be- 
tween fifteen and eighteen. The boys get interested in gangs and 
athletic work. At the last biennial conference in Denver, plans 
were inaugurated for starting an older boys’ program in order to 
meet this need. In England there is already such a movement 
known as the “Rovers.” The boys stay in the troop on an average 
of about a year, but many much longer. (A scoutmaster.) 


465. I think that the Boy Scouts are a mighty fine organiza- 
tion. I got to be a First Class Scout before I quit. I don’t know 
just why it was that I dropped out,—we got a bunch of.little kids 
in the troop and they wanted to be with us all of the time and we 
wanted to be by ourselves. And I] guess we wanted to do different 
things. (A scout.) 


466. We just came up to the church the first time to see if we 
could not make anybody sore. We came in and watched the other 
fellows going through their scout meeting. One night we came up 
and took a back seat and there were several troops there. After 
a while we were getting ready to cause some trouble and a couple 
of the fellows who were helping the scoutmaster came back and 
told us to come outside. These two put us in military formation 
and drilled us around until we lost part of our pep and then asked 
us if we wanted a troop and we said sure. One of the fellows be- 
came our scoutmaster and now he comes up here every Thursday 
night. I sure like scouts and so do the rest of the fellows. We 
don’t chase around and “cop” things like we used to and do not 
breach as much stuff just for the fun of it. (A scout.) 


WELFARE AGENCIES 117 


LEADERSHIP 


467. ‘These men give their time for nothing; we can’t expect 


to get a good scoutmaster unless we’re willing to pay him a little 
something. (A scout.) 


468. It isn’t quite satisfactory because there doesn’t seem to 
be a regular scoutmaster. It is hard to get one that will stay with 
the boys; but my boy goes regularly to the scout meetings at the 
church, and I like to have him go. (A parent.) 


469. We try to get the leaders from the communities in which 
the troops are located. They know the community better and they 
stay in the work longer, The turnover is less than you would ex- 
pect. (A scout executive.) 


470. I have discovered that ths boys love form and ceremony 
and I have worked out a form of ceremony for every part of their 
services. The other night when we started a new patrol and one 
of the boys was promoted to leader, instead of giving him his sup- 
plies myself, 1 had him escorted across the room, then gave the 
supplies to one of the other officers, who presented them to him; 
it seems to mean more to them. (A scoutmaster.) 


471. We had a good scoutmaster who was an athletic director 
and he was used to dealing with boys. He used to do anything 
that we wanted him to do. We almost considered him as one of 
us. He got into our games and yet he was pretty strict and when 
he gave an order he meant to have it executed. Then there was 
another who was a science teacher. We surely passed a lot of 
tests while he had change of the troop. Any troop has to have 
discipline. When we had no scoutmaster we had very little of it, 
and we played around too much, (A boy.) 


Ill. Tue ‘YY’ Procram 


The Christian Citizenship program of the Y. M. C. A. special- 
izes directly on the boy from the combined standpoints of char- 
acter, citizenship, and religion. With its diversified repertoire of 
clubs—Friendly Indians, Pioneers, Comrades, and Hi—Y, and 
in its direct co-operative activities with the churches and high 
schools, it has shown an extensive grasp of the boy and his prob- 
lems. 


Character and citizenship through moral and religious training 
is essentially its slogan. Without working to build up any particu- 
lar type of religious denomination or to build up the Protestant 
churches, as such, it co-operates with these so that through them 
and its own agencies it may build character. Physical activities 
are brought in as a strong set of secondary factors in boys’ lives. 
Programs rather than organizations are emphasized. <A _ special 
effort is made to meet the sex education needs of boys construc- 
tively. 

The attempt to make an intensive study of each boy according 
to a four-fold plan of character development is excellent as far as 


118 TED OY aa N ee Bes iy 


it goes. The physical, intellectual, spiritual, and service angles 
are given more or less equal weight in the “Y” program. More 
thorough psychological, psychiatric and sociological studies, that is, 
personality studies, of each boy would prove a wonderful invest- 
ment. 

Any program for boys with a clear religious note in it is bound 
to meet with scorn from many boys without religious training. 
Any “rough-neck” will always call a less rough-neck a “sissy,” 
and boys are especially prone to act this-wise. The “Y” boy needs 
special guidance in coping with this problem without compromis- 
ing his own developing manhood and at the same time maintainng 
a place of strong and effective leadership. Spiritual and religious 
convictions of the wholesome and constructive types are rarely 
surpassed as sheet anchors for boys surrounded with multitudinous 
temptations toward dissipation. 

But the leader problem is uppermost. A comprehensive pro- 
gram waits on leadership. With the men in the churches as 
natural leaders for a Christian Citizenship program, the potential 
possibilities are great but the results fall below expectations. Again, 
the question of volunteer, and incompletely trained leaders, is 
baffling as it is in the Sunday Schools. A paid and trained leader- 
ship may be the only solution, A paid boys work director in 
every church and school of size is needed. 


472. Weare short of room here for the boys to meet in. What 
we really need is a full time secretary connected with each of our 
city high schools. (A boys’ worker.) 

473. Believe me, the Hi Y is the salvation of many a fellow 
here at high school. That’s where we hear real sex talks that 
deal with problems that are practical and that we meet every day. 
I sure wish that more boys would belong to Hi-Y. (A boy.) 


474, In the Pioneers, practically all the activity is outside of 
the group, and the group ‘meetings are a checking up on these ac- 
tivities and awarding credit, The Pioneer program ties the leader 
up to a very intensive study of each boy—a very good thing if the 
ieader has the time. (A boys’ worker.) , 

475, ‘The Hi-Y Club is frequently limited to fifty boys, with 
a waiting list. They work as Christian leaders in the schools with 
the idea of organizing boys in the churches of their choice as 
Pioneers or Comrades. Their weakest point is with the Comrades’ 
program, that is for the older boys. (A boys’ worker.) 


476. In working with our boys here the plan is to get them 
interested and then to send them back to work through their own 
churches. This place might be regarded as a clearing house for 
workers for the church and that is as it should be. (A _ boys’ 
worker. ) 

477. It should be clearly understood that the Comrades, 
Pioneers, and Friendly Indians are programs and not organizations, 
The Christian Citizenship program is promoted by the Y. M. C. A. 


WELFARE AGENCIES 119 


for the churches, using the Sunday School classes as units. (A 
boys’ worker.) ? 


478. We need to sell this proposition to more leaders. There 
are plenty of men right here in our churches who are capable and 
able to lead groups and have all the training necessary if we could 
only get them to see the value of such work. There is not a 
scarcity of potential leaders but it is to persuade the capable men 
to go into such types of work. (A boys’ worker.) 


479. We have boys’ committees here and these in turn have 
representation on the Boys’ Council which is the big noise in our 
boys’ department here. Whatever this Boys’ Council wants to do 
they talk over and then make their plans and it goes before the 
committee of management and in this way we get a program which 
the boys like and which they have a part in making. (A boys’ 
worker.) 


480. There are all kinds of clubs here and these always have 
something doing. In regard to the Hi-Y there are a lot of fine fel- 
lows in it but they cannot have very much influence over the other 
1700 boys here when there is only about thirty in the club. These 
fellows in the club though certainly do stand for the finer things 
of life. Most of the upper classmen are members of one or more 
clubs, but I would say that the majority of the ninth and tenth 
graders do not belong because they are still getting adjusted and 
finding the club that they want to belong to. (A boy.) 


481. In the fifty boys of the Hi-Y at — high school there 
are eleven men who hold student body offices and there are eleven 
offices open to boys. At high school nine of the eleven are 
members and the other two are on the waiting list as applicants. 
At about half of the officers are members; at eight 
out of the eleven, but at high school we have not much of 
anything. In most of the schools we have the leaders and try to 
put into them the dynamic spirit to go back to school and change 
the life there. The reason for the lack of importance of the Hi-Y 
at is mlarrelyvattributeditoathe, strats) ithere, }4( A“ boys. 
worker.) 




















IV. Bic BroTHErRs 


The Big Brother movement finds its strength in personal serv- 
ice to boys. Not all boys have the right group supervision all the 
time. The “delinquent” boy, the boy whose foot has slipped, the 
boy in danger “of getting into court” but whose parental direction 
is missing or inadequate needs a wiser person, a man, as a “pal.” 
With a man of understanding mind and upright character as an 
associate the “little brother” has a new chance to make good. 

The main problem is to get proper Big Brothers. A young 
business man makes one of the best, providing he isn’t “too busy.” 
An ideal Big Brother would be one with at least the rudiments of 
psychiatric and social case work training. He needs at least to un- 


120 THES BOYGUIN Sure c any. 


derstand the emotional conflicts of boys and the means of social 
treatment. 

The theory of the movement is excellent but its practical suc- 
cess depends on the Big Brothers. To secure these and train them 
is a work deserving hearty support. An interesting development 
is the organization of Little Brothers’ Clubs, where there are not 
enough Big Brothers to go around. The opportunities for both 
social case work and group service work in connection with the 
Big Brothers are immediate and immense. 


482. It’s the easiest thing in the world to get men to con- . 
tribute money, but not themselves to boys’ welfare. (A _ boys’ 
worker.) 


483. I hope that the Big Brothers are being carefully selected 
and that they are getting some training in what to do, and how to 
do iti’“CA(Bis Brother.) 


484. The boy was assigned to a Big Brother, who had actually 
done a great deal of service.in this case. He was in personal 
contact with B and invited the whole family, including an old 
grandmother, to his house for dinner, where he explained American 
customs to the parents and ways of disciplining B ./ (A teachers) 


485. A big problem is to keep boys out of trouble when they 
are away from the playground. ‘That’s where the Big Brother 
movement comes in. We did not have enough Big Brothers to 
go around, so we got several of the Little Brothers together and 
gota leader. We have twenty five in each. (A Big Brother.) 


486. The boys told me that they were proud to belong to the 
Big Brothers Organization and to be in contact with bright voung 
men who were established in the business and professional worlds 
and could give them the benefit of their experience, especially when 
the boy and his parents live in two different worlds. (A social 
worker.) 








487. ‘The Big Brother movement was started to help boys on 
probation, The general idea is for a boy to be assigned to a busi- 
ness man or similar other person who is supposed to be a big 
brother to the boy. It usually turns out, however, that the man is 
too busy and has no time for the boy. The boy comes to him and 
asks for two bits. When asked what the money is for, the boy 
replies, “To go to a picture show,’ but the man never follows 
up the boy to see to what kind of a show he goes. (A boys’ worker.) 


V. OTHER Boys’ ORGANIZATIONS 


There are the Western Rangers, the Woodcraft League, and 
similar organizations—all doing good work for boys. Their prob- 
lems are similar to those already presented in this chapter, ‘The 
need of trained leaders is emphasized by all. 


WELFARE AGENCIES 121 


THE LIBRARY CENTER 


The noteworthy development of branch libraries in Los Ang- 
eles had made the library a local community and neighborhood 
center. Located in small parks or having at least a green lawn 
with attractive shrubs, they serve as gathering places for boys. 
The librarians give special attention to the reading needs of boys, 
but on occasion “‘boys will be boys,” and cut pictures out of maga- 
zines, throw books, and “get to cutting up” in general. In some 
districts*where the library stands out as the chief attractive spot, 
boys create serious problems, simply because there is nothing 
constructive for them to do and they are without direction. Ab- 
sence of sufficient playground facilities and supervision is usually 
reported from these neighborhoods. 


The branch library as a meeting place for boys’ gangs is not 
entirely unnatural. If the library has a clubroom and supervision 
can be given, the boys’ gang may be developed along constructive 
lines. A library possesses several stimulating points of contact, 
even with gangsters, through its pictures, its story literature, its 
scientific magazines. The librarian often has to be a disciplinarian, 
a wise student of boy nature, and a social center director. 


488. The situation at the branch library is disturbing. Boys 
and girls meet there “to study;” “the teacher said they had to get 
certain material at the library.” They sneak out of the window, 
go for auto rides, are back by nine o’clock and are “studying hard” 
when their parents call for them, (A parent.) 


489. Nevertheless, as far as the library problem was con- 
cerned, we were able to make some improvements in the situation. 
We had to recognize the fact, of course, that the boys were using 
the library as a sort of meeting place for their gang. In a sense 
that would have been all right if their meetings had been orderly 
and if they could have been held at some time when the library 
was not in use for other purposes, but these meetings were in- 
clined to be more or less rough and thus the boys disturbed the 
other library users who were there for serious study. So we had 
to face the task of trying to reorganize the attitudes of these 
boys toward the library itself. This we attacked with considerable 
success by stimulating their interest in the library from the angle 
of using the library, not so much as a gang meeting place, but as a 
place where constructive and interesting things could be done. (A 
librarian.) | . 


490. In. regard to the boy problem in the community of the 
Branch Library, I may say, first of all, that this is not a 

new neighborhood. It has been established fifteen or twenty years 
and still there is no adequate provision for any sort of recreation. 
The result is that the boys and girls resort to the streets, the 
moving pictures, and the library. Discipline is consequently more 
of a problem in the library than the class of homes represented 
would lead one to suspect. Talking and unruliness in the library, 


122 THES BOMSIN( ha eG Giy’ 


however, are more annoying than alarming, but recently there have 
been graver troubles. (A librarian.) 

491. For instance, sometimes a group of boys, who have had 
poor homes and training, seem to take advantage of the fact that 
the public has provided a place in which to read. As a result they 
often come to the branch library more for the purpose of having 
fun than for serious reading or studying. ‘That is, they are apt 
to look on the library as a play place; and they are apt, some- 
times, to be destructive in their activities. Of course we naturally 
try to cope with such a problem in the best practical way that 
seems to present itself. For instance, the librarian may try to get 
the boys of such a group off into a corner and give them a quiet 
talk in which the trouble they are making does not appear directly 
and immediately on the surface of the talk but in which, indirectly, 
she tries to suggest better ways in which to spend leisure time and 
in which the use the library to that end. ‘These little talks are 
often effective. (A librarian.) 


492. On Library Day fifty thousand votes went out to boys 
to indicate the best boy’s book and forty-five thousand votes came 
back with Tom Sawyer leading and Robin Hood second. The 
reason for these preferences were that there is so much fighting 
and killing in these books. One boy likes Tom Sawyer because he 
flirted with life and another because author tells what goes on in 
a boy’s mind when he is in action and also in dull times. Other 
reasons given: “Took real courage to stop reading Treasure 
Island.” “Is full of fighting.” “There’s lots of killing and shoot- 
ing in Treasure Island.” “It works your imagination, Twenty 
Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.” “Crusoe, it’s full of life; there 
are cannibals in it, which boys like.” ‘The Last of the Mohicans 
also keeps you in a tension.” “Crusoe has action in it all the time.” 
“Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain; puts so many adventures in it.” 
“Three Musketeers, keeps you on your toes all the time.” (A 
librarian.) 


VI. THE SocraL CENTER 


The social settlement gives special attention to boys. In Los 
Angeles the settlement idea has been taken over to a large extent 
by the schools and playgrounds, and is supported by public funds. 
Social centers, privately supported, are conducted, however, as 
phases of religious programs. Their work and their problems are 
those of the well-known social settlement. 

493. He needs club houses where he will be free of elements 
which shape his environment and determine his behavior. He 
needs social and recreational centers where he can put in his spare 
time to advantage rather than running the streets. (A _ boys’ 
worker.) 

494. This center is still very young, which accounts for the 
fact that much of the recreational work is yet in the organization 


WELFARE AGENCIES 123 


stage. A comprehensive recreational program for colored children 
has been outlined and will be carried out in the near future. (A 
social center worker.) 


VII. LEADERSHIP 


Successful leaders of boys report many different methods. “I 
never beat a boy anymore; swatting is antiquated” is widespread 
testimony. “I never scold any more” is also a common opinion. 
The trained case worker with boys develops co-operation without 
the use of force. The leader who seeks boys’ hobbies and works 
along that line is on a right road. Being kind to boys, is simple 
and yet effective. To know each boy individually and thoroughly, 
even in his home and racial backgrounds requires endless time, 
but is as important as it is time requiring. The leader who sees a 
boy drawing an indecent picture well, and without reprimanding, 
turns that talent into a constructive direction is farsighted, To put 
one’s own problem up to boys” as their problems is usually effec- 
tive. To create an atmosphere of pleasantness, even for unpleasant 
tasks for boys is the height of skill. 


“Always be prepared” is a good motto. Keep boys guessing 
and have surprises up your sleeve for them, is stimulating to them. 
A realization that boys judge a leader by his deeds rather than by 
his words is fundamental. 

Much can be learned from the failures of leaders and the diff- 
culties in obtaining competent ones. “No time” is a common alibi. 
Plenty of boys and boys’ clubs, but no trained leaders—is a common 
cry. Money for boys’ welfare, but not enough hours of personal 
service; enthusiasm for boys’ work, but scanty knowledge of boys’ 
psychology; these are real problems. 

The lack of comprehension of what boys’ work is all about, 
its deeper meanings, is amazing—even on the part of boys’ leaders. 
To do a few things well and to follow a program is not boys’ work 
—it is common sense. Boys’ work’ is personality adjustment; it 
is solving conflicts, ‘These processes are little understood, and 
the leader lives on the surface of his opportunities. 


“To bawl out” boys is the chief reserve technique of many 
leaders. To use “swats” overlooks the newer psychiatric methods 
of working with boys. To do boys’ work in about “the same old 
way’ is stupid. The leader who urged boys to quit cigarettes but 
who himself smoked, although not in their presence, had little 
influence. The leader who “talked all the time” was already a 
failure, and the leader who insisted that his main business was 
to keep the boys “under his thumb” never had time to do anything 
else for them. 


‘THE SHORT-SIGHTED LEADER 


495. He never took us on any hikes. Oh, yes, he did once 
and you should have seen him puffing along. He had an awful 
time. (A boy.) 


124 THE BOYVIN SHE CITY 


496. I give them a bawling out. That helps a lot. Sometimes 
S: talks to them in a fatherly way and sometimes he bawls them 
out. This bawling out does them a lot of good. (A boys’ worker.) 


497. As leaders we don’t give them time when they ask ques- 
tions. Often they have a great many things on their minds but we | 
give them the impression that we are so busy that we can’t discuss 
matters at length in which they are interested. (A boys’ leader.) 


498. He came to me later wanting me to help him with some 
charge of false imprisonment. I told him to get off the grounds 
and never return; he had not been falsely imprisoned for he had 
stolen my keys. (A boys’ leader.) 


499. I almost made the same mistake myself. You know you 
can go just about so far and if you cross that line in your playing 
with boys, they will lose their respect for you. When I first took 
over the club I got right out with the boys and played all of their 
games with them. For a while it worked all right and then the fun 
began. The boys seemed to put me on their same level and when 
we got into the meeting I had quite a time trying to get them 
settled down. They seemed to think that everything that I said 
was a joke and part of the game, (A boys’ worker.) 





THE Far-SIGHTED LEADER 


500-1. I do not scold the boy or say “don’t” to him but just 
let him grow up with me and I[ try to grow up again with him. 
(A boys’ leader.) 

502. Become interested in that boy’s work and hobby and 
be thoroughly conversant on all topics he likes brought up in his 
presence. (A boys’ leader.) 

503. I find that the only way to do very good work with them 
is to get to know each boy individually. I now have, I should 
judge, from five hundred to seven hundred boys that I can call 
by name. (A boys’ worker.) 

504. I haven’t a kid on the playground now but that I know 
something about him—what his father does and all that—but I 
have so many on the playground that I can’t spend much time 
on any one of them, (A boys’ worker.) 


505. We try to find out what the boys’ hobbies are and then 
build upon them. Each boy has a different hobby from the others 
and so we have to have an individualized program. (A _ boys’ 
worker. ) | 


BOGS Vi ro: here is one man in a thousand. He was an 
assistant superintendent of schools, but has taken this place at half 
the salary he could get any place because he likes to work with 
boys. 

507. The main way in which I have changed in dealing with 
boys is that I am now much more exact in talking with them than 
I used to be. I try to keep my promises to the word. They are 





WELFARE AGENCIES wZ0 


very quick to detect hypocrisy. I don’t bawl them out any more. 
(A boys’ worker.) 

508. I have quit scolding boys. I don’t beat them any more 
either. I try to encourage them, and to instill in the boy trust in 
me and I do that by showing that I have some trust in him. My 
problem is lack of co-operation from the parents of the boys. The 
Japanese boy, he’s all right. He causes me no trouble. (A boys’ 
worker. ) 


509. I saw a boy drawing a picture on the wall the other 
day which was not a decent picture, but instead of calling him down 
I recognized his ability to draw and called him in, asked him if he 
would like to prepare some posters for me, which he did splendidly. 
I think that we ought to encourage boys’ inventive abilities. (A 
boys’ worker.) 

BU Lucre ate three types of léaders: 21. Lhe: poorestskind 
who says on the evening of the meeting,.““Drat it all, I have to go> 
down to that meeting of kids,’ and grabs his hat and is off. At 
the end of the hour and a half he says, “Well, that is all tonight 
fellows. Good-night. 


2. The second type is what most of us are and I think we 
have to be it before we can be anything else. He takes the sug- 
gested program and applies it to the group with few modifications. 


3. The best type are rare birds. He finds what the boy needs 
and develops the boy in that direction. If he watches a hasket 
ball game and sees lots of personal fouls, he will discuss fair play 
with the boys and get them to play fair. He must have absolutely 
constructive attitudes himself for attitudes, like contagious 
diseases, are caught. (A boys’ leader.) 


VIII. Lookinc Forwarp 


The great need in boys’ welfare work about all others by far 
is for leaders, and then for trained leaders. All boys’ welfare 
agencies are immeasureably handicapped because of a lack of 
group work and case worked trained leaders, of leaders who are 
versed in the fundamentals of psychiatric and social psychologic 
treatment. A debatable issue is that of the volunteer versus the 
paid leader. Boys’ welfare is so important that it requires the high- 
est trained leadership clear down the line, but this is impossible 
without remuneration. 


Training courses are often makeshifts, with a few persons gtv- 
ing “lectures” that are chiefly accounts of how they themselves 
have made great achievements and without much analysis of 
principles or understanding of backgrounds in psychiatry, psy- 
chology, and sociology, 

The better co-ordination of all boys’ welfare agencies in the 
city is needed. In addition to establishing one large organization 
it is important that they begin to think together about boys’ wel- 


126 DHE BOW TINGE Eerie, 


fare. The problem is bigger than that of any one of them and 
larger in any community than that community can handle. 

A co ordination of all the playground activities, both municipal 
and school will increase the efficiency of playground work in the 
city. A small playground within five to ten minutes walk of each 
home in Los Angeles proper as a standard would probably require 
more money than the people would be willing to furnish, and hencé 
a new public opinion is needed. 


A large number of swimming pools in the city would also cost 
money but because they could be used virtually the year around, | 
and because of the tremendous appeal they make to boys, and be- 
cause of the health and life protective values in them, the ex- 
penditure might, after all prove exceedingly wise. 


The boys’ welfare agencies have splendid opportunities for 
making case studies of boy nature, of studying the natural history 
of boys, their conflicts, their problems, and their adjustments. 
Boys do get adjusted constructively to the bad conditions of a 
city environment, but what» are the processes? By mastering 
these, it will be possible to prevent many boys from becoming prob- 
ler boys who are now doing so. 


Boys’ Week is doing much in the way ef giving the boy a new 
place in public attention. The Council for the Promotion of Boys’ 
Work may take the leadership during the other weeks of the year 
in seeing that the boy has not only a place in public opinion, but 
a scientific place there. 


511. I love to swim best of all. T’ll bum my way to the beach 
for a dip. We go on the street car as far as a nickel will take us 
and then we walk a few blocks and then we catch a ride. But I 
only go to the beach on Sunday. (A boy.) 


512. During the celebration of International Boys’ Week, the 
last week of April, 1925, there was.a noticeable decrease in the 
delinquency cases, due to the intense interest in boys on the part of 
the parents, teachers, churches, and community at large. (A police 
worker. ) 


513. Swimming is the best athletic activity we have. Our 
men can teach a person to swim in three lessons. Last year we 
taught a thousand people to swim. It’s a good form of life in- 
surance you know. It gets the sun upon the body and it’s a great 
chest expander. (A boys’ worker.) 


514. If I had one wish that might come true I would desire 
a swimming pool. There is no place for kids to swim here. If 
we had a pool we would force them to take showers and get washed 
off much oftener, And I believe that old saying that cleanliness 
is next to Godliness; at any rate a fellow can’t get into the devil- 
ment when he is clean that he does when he is dirty. Besides, 
when we furnish good spontaneous activity for the boys we do not 
need to worry about them going wrong. (A boys’ worker.) 


CORRECTIONAL AGENCIES 127, 


(Gl ded al alli 


The Boy and the Juvenile Correctional 
Agencies 


If the boy slips by the home, the church, the school, socialized 
recreation and boys’ welfare organizations without any of them 
succeeding in helping him make the necessary adjustments of life, 
he falls into the hands of the correctional agencies, such as police, 
courts, probation departments, and so on. These reach him after 
some damage has been done and some conflicts hardened into com- 
plexes and into “bad habits” of attitude and action. It is their main 
business to follow back along the crooked trail to the origin of 
trouble, to straighten out distorted reactions, and to set the boy 
going along constructive paths. 


Le eGHECPOLICE 


Most of the complaints against the boy are filed in the juvenile 
court against him by the police detailed for juvenile duty. The 
boy is aware of this contingency and sets himself against the police, 
becoming exceedingly skilled in wariness, ‘They in turn meet him 
with his own tactics, and the conflict goes on until he is caught. A 
policeman is in a difficult situation, for boys are suspicious of him 
and naurally refuse to co-operate as long as they think of him as 


their enemy. If a policeman could develop a co-operative attitude 
in the boy, his major problems would be solved, but this becomes 
increasingly difficult to the degree that the boy’s offences and 
general attitudes grow more and more anti-social. 


The best police, however, are developing social work attitudes 
and are asking for higher standards of training, even social case 
work training. Their need for being social case work experts is as 
great as that of the workers in any other welfare agency in the 
city. 


515. We used to have more trouble with the cops than the 
kids do now. Since that kid got shot and the cop sent up for it, 
the cops are very careful about getting into trouble with us. You 
can’t blame the cops any. They come around and scare the kids 
away, but as soon as they are gone back the kids come to their 
own tricks. (A boy.) 


128 WHE BO YCIN GHB URY 


916. I have been chased by cops lots of times. Once a cop 
on a motor stopped and asked me all kinds of questions. “How 
do I know you are working where you say?” Well, I told him that 
I would get on his motor and go with him to prove to him that 


140 


i20 


100 


80 


60 


UVMBER OF BOYS 





o 
6 Bt, 8 +>) 1o it 12 13 14. 15 IG 17 


AGE LAST BIRTHDAY 


JVVENILE OFFENDERS AGAINST PROPERTY 
FROM THE RECORDS OF THE 


LOS ANGELES POLICE JVVENILE BVREAV 
JVLY 1.1924 TO FEB, 28,1925 


BOYS WORK SVRVEY is2s SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH LABORATORY v.Sc. 


CHART VI 


The number of juvenile offenders against property increases rapidly and 
steadily from age six to age seventeen. Therefore, the vast majority of 
such offenders are adolescents of junior and high school age. 


CORRECTIONAL AGENCIES 129 


I was working there. It seems that a fellow can’t stay around on 
the street without the cops picking you upon suspicion, but what 
is a fellow to do if he has no other place to go? (A boy.) 


II. THe JUVENILE Court 


The Juvenile Court is one of the most important Departments 
of the Superior Court. It calls for as much specialized training 
as any other Department and its work is more important in hu- 
man welfare aspects. Besides legal training and experience, a 
thorough grounding in social work and social psychology is a 
prime essential. A background knowledge of the processes of 
both personal and social adjustment is also significant. More- 
over, this court is dealing with young life in its plastic age; it has 
opportunities daily to change the whole course of human lives. 
Not property rights, and not the rights of people on the sunset 
side of life, but rather with the human opportunities of forward- 
looking youth is the field of the juvenile court. 

For these reasons the judges of the Superior Court as a class 
need to view the Juvenile Court as being of more importance than 
almost any other Department. Further, the tenure of the Juvenile 
Court judge needs to be continuous so that a useful man may 
remain for many years, growing in wisdom and stature along 
adolescent psychology and sociology lines. To meet all kinds of 
boys, accused of all kinds of offences, and to meet some of them 
many times, with the power of the law in his own hands, and the 
welfare of the boy and of the community at heart and on one’s 
mind, requires the highest human skill. 

The judge is often in a dilemma. He may send a boy sixteen 
years of age to jail where he is likely to learn worse things than 
he knew upon entering, and of putting him on probation where 
he often goes back to the old environment, the old “gang,” and 
the old temptations, and commit another offense perhaps worse 
than the first. 

The best juvenile court procedure views its own work as 
including co-operation first, and punishment second, rather than 
vice versa. ‘The boy, whatever his offense and whatever the pun- 
ishment that “is coming to him,” has a life before him, capable in 
most cases perhaps of splendid development and contribution to 
society, or of destruction of self and of a part of the social order. 

The whole question of fining boys is a mooted one. Damages 
should be met, to be sure, but to assess fines means that the boy 
of poor parents often needs supervision in obtaining work to do, 
not simply as a means of paying his fine, but as a means of locating 
the best vocation for a life undertaking. The boy who has been in 
court is especially handicapped in getting proper work to do, and 
so, irrespective of fines, is in special need. 

To put a boy on probation means that somehow he may “right 
about face,” and become adjusted to life properly, but to give the 


130 RL ERSBOY AN] TA EOG EEN 


boy this chance repeatedly without his attitudes being changed is 
harmful. The probation officer is a key person in the situation, the 
judge’s right hand person, and the boy’s possible savior. To study 
a boy too long and to overlook his minor offenses often means 
that he goes from bad to worse until he must be committed to 
institutional care. , 















1900000 
900000 
800000 
100000 


600000 
$90000 
400000 


380000 





4 200000 
oO 
a 2 
0 
Z 100000 < 
90000 
3 80000 2 
‘, 10000 Oo 
3 60000 & 
o 50000 3 
a 
y 40000 
d oi) 
al < 
z 30000 0 
2 & 
a 





20000 


LOS ANGELES 1920-1924 


RATEOF INCREASE OF NVMBER OF BOYS WARD OF 
LOS ANGELES JVVENILE COVRT 


RATEOF GROWTH OF TOTAL BOY POPVLATION 


se RATE OF INCREASE OF WARDS OF JVVENILE COVRT 
—— RATE OF INCREASE OF TOTAL BOY POPVLATION 








BOYS WORK SVRVEY 1925 SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH LABGRATORY V.S.C. 


CHART VII 


For the five-year period, 1920-24, the rates at which the total boy pop- 
ulation and the number of wards of the juvenile court have increased are 
roughly equal. That is, the proportion of delinquents is not rising 
rapidly. (By the use of logarithmic or ratio scales the rate of change of 
two lines can be judged by how nearly they run parallel. 


CORRECTIONAL AGENCIES 131 


Parents often take advantage of a judge. They may lie about 
their son in the boy’s presence, and as a result of their overzeal 
to save their son an immediate sentence, do him great harm. A 
judge’s patience is often strained in securing something more than 
promissory co-operation from the parents. The latter oftentimes 
are not only ignorant of what needs to be done, but do not or will 
not learn. They may unwittingly be a main cause in a boy’s delin- 
quency, and yet the judge has no other natural choice except to 
commit the boy as a ward of the court in the care of his parents 
and under the supervision of a probation officer. 


In other instances a judge must let a boy “get by” because 
persons will not testify to what they have said in private. Legal 


evidence is not available regarding conduct concerning which there 
is no doubt. ) 


The juvenile court is a parental institution, that is, it takes the 
place of parents where the latter are inadequate. As it grows in 
size, however, the parental and personal contact per boy dimin- 
ishes and the whole system is in danger of breaking down under 
its own weight. It needs to be supported by an increased amount 
of personal service per boy, and the “cases” per probation officer 
need to decrease. | 


Many boys study the judge and court procedure and become 
adepts at “getting off easy,’ as they say. This is a minority 
tendency, but is on the increase. Word passes from boy to boy 
concerning what “works,” and “innocence abroad” becomes skillful 
in presenting what amounts to extenuating circumstances, and “in 
playing upon” the judge’s known good nature and parental interest. 


Even in such cases where the judge is shrewdly aware of what 
the boy is doing, the dilemma is hard to meet. ‘To “send such a 
boy up” is to throw him in company with older boys who know 
more tricks than he does, but to release him is to give him a chance 
to boast to his gangsters and chums that “de judge was easy,” and 
to commit further offenses. 


With state schools for boys full, a judge is often forced to 
commit a boy and then grant him “a stay of execution.” ‘The other 
alternative is to release boys from the state schools too soon. 


The police grow weary of catching boys and of having them 
put on probation, only to steal, or commit some other offense again. 
Words of admonishment go far in many cases, but in others they 
have no effect except to cause the statement to be spread: “I got 
off easy, there was nothing to it.” Personal service of the trained 
social work order strikes closer home in the long run than any 
other types of procedure. With each unit of increase in juvenile 
court cases, personal service needs to be multiplied. 


The question is growing whether or not the work of the 
juvenile court should not be divided between the public schools 
and the domestic relations court. As far as the family is respon- 
sible, the situation is one for the attention of the domestic relations 


132 THE BOY IN THE CITY 


courts. As far as the boy, as such, is involved, his needs may be 
met sooner, and thus better, through a properly equipped clinical 
and personal service procedure of the schools. 


517. One of our problems is to get people to testify in court 
to the things that they tell us in private. They are afraid to, for 
fear that afterwards their boy, or somebody else’s boy, will “lay 
for them.” (A court worker.) 


518. The kid says: “H , | should worry if I do get caught, 
for I'll get off on probation.” Many kids today seem to have little 
respect for law or order or property, or anything. They do not 
seem to realize the gravity of what they are doing. (A boys’ 
worker.) 


519. Many come from wealthy homes, and their parents, 
when in court, lie in the presence of their children. They tell what 
a fine boy theirs is, how he has never done anything wrong before, 
and how he will never do anything wrong again. He sits there 
and knows all the time that they are lying about him, and hence, 
when he gets out, he does not respect them at all, and commits 
another offense. (A court worker.) 


520. Therefore, there is a general tendency for the com- 
munity to harbor a lot of boys who should be confined in some 
institution. This means that there are a lot of repeaters going 
through this office all the time who should not be loose. It also 
means that there are a lot of offenses being committed by these 
people which would not be committed if they were properly cared 
for the first time that they are brought to the attention of the 
police. (A social worker.) 


521. Our system is to blame for our disrespect for law and 
authority. I was down with twelve fellows one Saturday for a 
charge of stealing automobiles. These boys were all convicted and 
were let out on probation, but were assured that the next offense 
would send them to Whittier. Two weeks later, fourteen boys 
were down, and among that number were four who had been up 
the previous time, and all of them got probation. One of those 
boys got probation seven specific times that I know of, and all the 
boys here know the same thing. Perhaps they know that he got 
off oftener than that. All of the boys knew that if they get caught 
for something that they will get probation. Can we expect them 
to respect the law under such conditions? (A boys’ worker.) 


522. It is very hard for us to do anything with them, for even 
if we catch a fellow red-handed with the car and the owner swears 
that he stole it, when he comes in and sees that it is only a kid 
fifteen or sixteen, he loses heart, and the owner changes the charge 
to tampering, which is only a misdemeanor with a light sentence. 
Even suppose that we succeed in getting the thief convicted, the 
judge may give him probation; some women’s organization will 
send the kid flowers and say, “Oh, he is only a boy, and what more 
can you expect from him? Look at his environment.’ And the kid 





CORRECTIONAL AGENCIES 133 


is turned loose to get another car the next week. What good does 
it do to catch them if we are just going to turn them loose to 
steal again? Then the fellow that changes the charge to tampering, 
lets the fellow out to tamper with another car in a few days. (A 
boys’ worker.) 

III. ProBaTion 


The probation officer’s main opportunity is to study the boy 
and his behavior in the light of environmental conditions, to ana- 
lyze his reactions, and to assist in making the necessary reactions. 
A full quota of training in treating emotional complexes, compen- 
satory actions, and conflicts of all descriptions, is important. 


The probation officer’s success depends in part on his ability 
and opportunity to do follow-up work. With fifty to seventy-five 
cases he might have time for adequate personal service, but with 
one hundred and fifty cases he is kept going from one to another, 
without sufficient time for each. To see a boy every week, rather 
than once a month, gives him a better proportion of personality 
contacts. 


The welfare of the boy comes ahead of punishment as a goal in 
scientific probation work. If personality contacts are vital, then 
the personality of the probation officer is supremely important. He 
must not only understand the boy, but he must command the boy’s 
highest respect. | 


The probation officer’s job is one in which every added incre- 
ment of experience, provided broad foundations have already been 
laid, is valuable. It is nothing less than a life-work, and yet the 
best young men with families are forced to resign, because of 
inadequate salaries. The work is as important as any in the world 
and deserves to be remunerated accordingly, and the standards 
need to be raised as high as possible. 


DETENTION 


When detention homes are crowded and jails filled, when state 
schools have waiting lists, behavior problem boys suffer. Lack of 
proper facilities and overcrowding all along the line are evident, 
with an inevitable result, decreasing efficiency. With no place to 
put runaway boys temporarily, with two or three misbehavior boys 
crowded into rooms intended for one, with care at times taking on 
mass rather than individual characteristics, problems mount up. 


The theory supported here is that boys’ welfare and the secur- 
ing of his co-operation is the primary consideration, and that pun- 
ishment is a secondary one. But this is often taken advantage of 
by boys. Some “play up” to those who are practicing this theory, 
with the idea “of getting by.” Some, perhaps an increasing num- 
ber, appreciate it and “make good.” Many, however, boast among 
their pals of how easy it is “to beat the game.” An unfortunate 
lack of respect for laws, courts, detention, and social work treat- 
ment, is prevalent among boys. The boy who openly refers to 


134 (ie TLE BOW AUN TE Et Canny. 


detention as “nothing but a huge joke,” or “my summer home,” 
has not yet understood the meaning of child welfare work. The 
social worker who will “never send another boy there as long as he 
lives” has had one or more unforunate experiences. 


The city or county jails as places of detention for boys are 
almost unthinkable. Health, mental attitudes, morals—all grow 
worse in “tanks.” Boys spending thirty, sixty or ninety days in 
jails with older boys and “hardened criminals” are practically cer- 
tain to come out worse in mind and body than when they entered 
—and more dangerous to society. 


523. A parental school of the twenty-four hour type should 
be maintained by a city as large as ours. There are sufficient cases 
encountered in the course of a year to warrant the establishment 
of such an institution. As it is, our only facilities for detention 
have been outgrown ten years ago. We are virtually placed in 
the position of begging a few days’ incarceration from the county 
for cases which are particularly aggravated. After this is accom- 
plished, the resultant procedure is generally the opposite of satis- 
factory, for the agents which we use are not fitted to handle prob- 
lems peculiar to our needs. The boy who is once exposed to the 
procedure employed realizes the crowded conditions and the desire 
to be rid of him as soon as possible. The attendant procedure 
gives him the idea that “they” are impotent, and he assumes an 
attitude which breeds a disrespect for the sanction of the law 
behind it all. (A social worker.) 


IV. ScHOOLs 


State schools, like detention homes, and jails, are handicapped. 
when overcrowded. Personal work with the boys decreases, and 
efficiency with it. Contamination of younger boys by older, and 
the less sophisticated by the more, is constantly going on. The 
shrewdness developed in this connection is baffling at times to the 
most experienced worker. 

As we go up the scale of age with its fixation of emotional 
responses and other habits, the problem of behavior adjustment 
becomes more and more complicated. Greater and greater skill is 
required in helping the boy to make the complete readjustment of 
attitudes that is needed. The best experts in the country, with 
most advanced training, are required, and salaries need to be some- 
what commensurate. A civilization which allows to ‘“money- 
makers” all they can get “within the law,” and to “humanity- 
makers” what is often a mere pittance in the light of their value to 
society, is in need of reversing some of its economic principles.. 

Reconstructive work among pre-delinquent boys is increas- 
ingly necessary. As homes fail, the institutional home and school, 
such as the Junior Republic and the twenty-four hour school, are 
called for. Not the equal of proper private homes, Junior Republic 
and twenty-four hour vocational schools of the vocational type are 
needed. 


CORRECTIONAL AGENCIES £135 


Upon entering, the boy usually reacts against the rules. He 
soon begins to observe, however, that it does not pay to violate 
the rules, but that it does pay to fit in with them, and-he under- 
goes changes in attitude, and finally becomes a good citizen. In 
institutions for boys of the vocational school and high school type, 
the training for trades may fit boys to go directly from the school 
into paid positions and into life work. 

524. We havea city government in the Republic, with paar 
officials. You will be interested to know that we are gradually 
doing away with our jail. In place of it we are substituting 
deprivation of privileges in the way of particpating in games, in 
having the best places to sleep in, the best food, in giving permis- 
sion to run for office, and so on. (A boys’ worker.) 

525. I have been in charge of a big boys’ institution, and we 
solved our problems by keeping the boys busy. We had a big 
orchestra, choral society, dramatics, debates, wrestling, baseball, 
and other things, so that all the needs of all the boys were met all 
the time. (A boys’ worker.) 

526. We do need more day nurseries where the mothers can 
leave their children and get them on their return from work.. The 
trouble with all of the nurseries at the present time is that they 
close about an hour or two before the mother gets home from 
work, and the child runs in the street. I am organizing a day 
nursery out in the district to accommodate thirty-five chil- 
dren up to eight years of age, but it is only a drop in the bucket. 
(A social worker.) 


527. Ordinarily it takes a boy about a month to get. adjusted 
at the Republic. At first he objects to nearly everything, and then 
he gradually catches on to our system and observes that che is 
better off when he abides by certain rules than he is when he 
ignores them. He also begins to see the necessity for. these rules, 
and finally sees the connection between our rules and the rules in 
society outside. The greatest trouble-makers at the start often 
become officers, and often a judge or mayor. Fr equently they are 
the most rigid in inflicting punishment or imposing deprivations 
upon the newcomer boys. It is very interesting to see how their 
attitudes change, here at the Republic. (A boys’ worker.) 





V. Temporary HoME AND OTHER NEEDS 


1. The most frequently mentioned need is for a temporary 
detention home for boys between the ages of sixteen and eighteen 
or twenty-one, a place where boys can be put any time of day or 
night for a few hours or a few days. Runaway boys, boys from 
homes suddenly broken up, boys who are not delinquent but who 
temporarily have no place to stay, perhaps need direction.and-care 
under a short period of social readjustment. Jails are the chief 
eee Ss now, but these do not furnish the Dis Dei environment 
ata 


136 THE. BOY IN THE: CITY 


Educational and work facilities of flexible types would be 
needed in order to keep the boys busy, for such a home, with boys 
idling away their time, might be worse than none at all. The 


AGE DISTRIBUTION OF i. 


JUVENILES (464 BOYS 
AND 444 GIRLS), WHO 
TEND TO BE IN 


; NEED OF SPECIAL 
TEMPORARY 












TO i 
60 


CARE 


From records of the Police Juvenile 
' Bureau, Los Angeles, July Ist, 1924, to 
February 28, 1925. 






UVMBER OF BOYS AND GiALS 





Com BBE Ree ee 2 13 14 15 16 
AGES BY SINGLE YEARS 
BOYS 
ae ave Collate 
Ee: 
AQITH MEANe 13.77 
BOYS WoRK SvAVEY 1925 SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH LABORATORY V.SC 

CHART VIII 


Runaway children of adolescent age are chiefly responsible for the 
sharp rise in these lines after the 13-year level. 


CORRECTIONAL AGENCIES 137 


boys should have a chance to work for their meals and lodging, 
and also of earning something, at least a small amount daily. 
Medical, psychiatric, psychological and case work experts should 
be available, for there would be many needed adjustments, 

2. Personal service and psychiatric case work for boys of the 
pre-delinquent type is needed everywhere. ‘here are several 
agencies which might do this if they were equipped with trained 
workers. ‘Through the schools, churches, boys’ welfare agencies, 
police juvenile bureau, and so on throughout a long list of agencies, 
the requests pour in for trained workers to go out into the city and 
help make the necessary mental and social adjustments. ‘his is 
preventive work of the most important order. 

3. A new community spirit is needed, such as Judge Hoffman 
reports at Cincinnati, where he no longer sends boys to institu- 
tions as formerly. Only four boys were so sent last. There is 
enough community spirit so that a sufficient number of foster 
homes are available. In Boston, also, it is reported that adequate 
foster homes may be had, “day or night.” 

4. While Catholics and Jews have developed organizations 
for helping pre-delinquent boys, the Protestants are lacking a well- 
developed centralized agency with a medical, psychiatrist and 
social work staff. 

9. Joint case committees are urged. At present a few insti- 
tutions are developing their own case committees, so that a child’s 
interests may be considered from all major angles—after the man- 
ner of the Child Guidance Clinic. Joint case committees are even 
more valuable in those situations where boys and their families 
involve assistance of two or more different welfare agencies. 

6. Private homes for rural placements are in demand. In 
misbehavior cases it is sometimes best to take a boy away from his 
city environment, and a rural home properly selected gives him 
new and interesting activities that change his attitudes and solve 
his untoward reactions to life. Through the Child Guidance Clinic, 
for example, rural placements could be made to advantage of both 
boys and the community. 

528. Why, it is no uncommon thing for any one of the ém- 
ployees right here in the Bureau to take children home with them 
at their own expense and keep them. (A social worker.) 

529. A temporary home for boys fourteen to twenty who are 
transient —to be supervised during investigation, is needed. 
Should be non-sectarian, and provision for isolation in private 
rooms. (A social worker.) 

530. <A lot of time is spent in running down a case in Juvenile 
Court, and when the child is brought in, there is nothing to be 
done, because there is no place to put him. <A child may be sent 
to Juvenile Hall for a few days, and then sent home to make way 
for more important cases. (A social worker.) be 


138 PPLE BOY VEN piri bor x 


531. Our problem comes in when a runaway has to be held 
over night, and we have no place to put him. The Detention Home 
will care for him for two or three days without entering him 
legally as a ward, but the danger is that he might start his delin- 
quency career right there because of his associates. (A _ social 
worker. ) : 

532. The bovs over sixteen will not be taken into the Juvenile 
Hall, and we can make no provisions for them. Various men’s 
clubs have been tried, but they refuse to take these boys: ‘The 
jail is an unfit place for them with all the adult prisoners. We 
hope that some suitable ploce is provided for these boys as a result 
of your survey. (A social worker.) 


533. When children come in at night, or on a Sunday or holi- 
day, it is almost impossible to place them, and sometimes impos: 
sible in an institution for that purpose. They will say. at the insti- 
tution, that there is simply a night nurse on duty and she has 
no authority to take children in—or that they can’t take them in 
without a medical examination. (A social worker.) 


534. What I want to know is, why doesn’t the city furnish 
the proper kind of places for these children? Some of them are not 
the right age to go to Juvenile Hall. Some are either too young 
or too old, and some are too young to go to jail but may be too — 
old to be taken into some of these charity places, and then a lot 
of those charity organizations aren’t open for .business at certain 
times, and that is why we have no place to send these children. 
(A boys’ worker.) 

535. Another trouble we are having when we try to get chil- 
dren cared for by private organizations is that some of them are 
not taking a child until the child has had a medical examination. 
Now, what can we do in the middle of the night, for instance, with 
half a dozen or a dozen or twenty children who must be put some- 
where, when there is no physician around here to examine them ? 
Lots of times all there is left to do is to take them back to their 
homes, where we got them. (A social worker.) 


536. Then there was the case of a man who met with a bad 
accident and was unconscious for more than a day. Later, when 
he regained consciousness, we found that he was living at an auto 
camp with his wife and five children. We went out there and 
found that the wife was a helpless invalid, but it was easy to find 
a proper place for her and the father, but when it came to solving 
the children’s problem, again it took a great many hours before 
we could find even the most temporary place for them. (A boys’ 
worker. ) 

537. The case was to come up in the Juvenile Court in about 
ten days, and the judge didn’t want to put them in jail, because 
that would do them more harm than good, so the ——— took 
them over. I had to send them to a hotel; I hated to do it, but 
knew that a hotel is better for a day than a jail. At the end of the 


CORRECTIONAL AGENCIES 139 


week they were coming to pay back the money they had borrowed. 
They were 'to meet me here at six o’clock. Well, I waited till half 
past seven, but they didn’t come. I knew what had happened, all 
right; they had beat it. (A boys’ worker.) 


538. The first problem which. we are facing in our Bureau 
is that of finding places where we can send children for proper 
care pending disposition of their cases. This problem is most 
serious on special occasions, such as the following: Nights, Sun- 
days, holidays, and times when the Juvenile Hall is full or in quar- 
antine. There are many agencies which are willing, they say, to 
take children who come through this Bureau. Many of them even 
go round advertising their agencies. They tell us they are willing 
to take in such needy children as we may have picked up and 
brought to this Bureau, but the trouble with most of them is that 
they require remuneration. (A boys’ worker.) 


539. Ata recent meeting of the Board of Directors of our Aid 
Society there was a discussion as to the facilities for the care of 
boys who need temporary lodging with some supervision, espe- 
cially between the ages of sixteen and twenty one. So far as we 
know, there is at present no place where such boys can be cared for 
and looked after until arrangements are made for them. This 
society feels that stranded boys, even between the ages of eighteen 
and twenty-one, ought not as a rule be sent to lodging houses 
where there are older men of a very different type. Some people 
feel that this is a sentimental attitude to take toward boys of this 
age, but perhaps all of us could agree that boys of sixteen to 
eighteen ought to be in an environment where they will not be 
subject to vicious influence. (A social worker.) 


140 HE BOY «EN ADRES GLY 


Gils Bia 44 BA eh tie ae 


The Boy and the Community 


What is a boy?’—who can answer? And what are the proc- 
esses by which a boy is developed into a “good citizen”? When 
we understand the answers to these two questions and act accord- 
ingly as individuals and as communities, “the boy problem” will be 
solved. It is important that the whole community be set to 
thinking regarding its youth and their problems, under the disor- 
ganizing conditions of modern city life. 


I. THe Boy 


The eugenics movement needs encouragement to the extent 
that every boy may be “well born,” with a sound physiological 
equipment. Training for marriage and parenthood is a minimum 
which will build a race of “well-born” children. 


Likewise, the unfolding personality traits need to be recog- 
nized and understood, so that a boy’s conflicts with his environ- 
ment may be adjusted as naturally as possible. A lack of balance 
in his endocrine system, a disturbance in his automatic system, a 
deep-seated emotional conflict—these often account for some of his 
most serious social conflicts. Scientific knowledge and proper 
treatment of these disturbances are vital to any program of boy 
welfare. The formation of inferiority or superiority complexes, 
unwholesome compensatory reactions, hampering conditioned re- 
flexes: how many ordinary parents, or even business and profes- 
sional men, understand these simpler conditions relating to the 
nature of their boys? 


How many parents and other workers with boys habitually 
put themselves into the boy’s world? How many are repeatedly 
imposing adults’ rules on adolescent nature, and judging boys by 
the standards for boys of a generation ago? As a result, how 
many are at a loss to account for many of the actions of youth 
today? It is not necessary to assume that all which youth does 
today is correct, but that the behavior of youth be understood, 1f 
boys are to be helped out of both their personal and social diffi- 
culties. 


540-5. Such psychology as we now have leads us to the gen- 
eral conclusion that a fellow forms his ideals in the same way that 
he builds any habit of action. A boy becomes trustworthy by acting 
in the way that we call trustworthy in a number of different real 
life situations—not, as we have occasionally assumed, by repeat- 
edly saying that he is “reliable.” (A research worker.) 

546. The boys build up a self-defense and replace or cover 
up a weakness with deceit. They even become liars and thieves. 


THE COMMUNITY 141 


The resentful boy becomes a bully. “They make up with fury 
what they lack in reason.” We feel we have a partial solution in 
the division of groups into X, Y and Z groups. Nearly all of the 
Z group, which are the lowest, think very highly of themselves. 
They try to have their extra-curricular activities make up for their 
lack in scholastic standing. (A teacher.) 


547, The boy does not understand himself: the boy needs an 
older person who can understand because he has been through 
what the boy is going through—to live close to him and really 
help him. The teacher can’t do it; the preacher can’t do it. We 
can give him good advice, but we cannot go with him, and he 
forgets about it shortly. He needs the right kind of a dad. That 
is the first requisite. Then he needs the right kind of associates. 
(A boys’ worker.) 


548. Most people cannot understand why a boy wants to 
drive a machine at such reckless speed, but I can understand, for 
I have been through it. The adolescent boy wants to do something 
unusual and exciting. Many times I have wished I had a car, and 
on Sunday afternoon I have seen my friends go by in a machine, 
and I wished for one and a girl to take out riding; I envied the 
fellow with the high-powered car, and girl; I wanted to do what 
the other fellows did. (A boys’ worker.) 


549. Willie comes in with the excuse that he is late because 
the clock was late; we think this is certain evidence that he is a 
born liar, but in reality it is a very common mechanism that we 
use every day. We need a new car because we say that it is not 
safe to ride in the old one any longer, whereas the real reason is 
that the Jones’ have a better car and we want to keep up with 
them. But we refuse to have any sympathy with the child and are 
ready to rush him off to damnation. (A research worker.) 


550. In training a boy it is important to keep in mind that he 
is plastic. In Alabama I saw negro boys selling canes that were 
twisted into all kinds of marvelous shapes. I marveled until I 
learned that these boys went into the swamps and twisted the 
canes in those shapes when they were young. Then the boys let 
them grow until the proper size for canes, and then cut them. 
Here, I see concrete walks with all kinds of marks, dog tracks, 
initials, on them. Those marks were all made when the walks 
were young. In the South, I visited a glass factory and saw all 
kinds of glass being made, but they were being made only when 
the glass was young. (A parent.) 


551. Some boys have the urge for adventure so strong that 
when they come to the special school, after having played truant 
from the regular school frequently, they just must run away. We 
have one boy who plays truant ever so often. When I asked him 
why, he said he didn’t know exactly; that the feeling came over 
him that he must go. I said to him that the next time he had that 
feeling to come and tell me and I would let him go. He didn’t 


142 THES BOYSUN GU Ber DY 


believe me, but some days later he came to me and said that he 
couldn’t stay any longer. I asked him where he wanted to go. He 
said, “To the ball game.” I said, “All right, you can go today.” He 
said, “Do you mean it?’ I[ said, “Yes.” He’said, “You surely are 
fair. T’ll be back tomorrow.” And he was. When we ask most of 
the boys why they play truant they say, “I don’t know,” and most 
of them really don’t know. (A teacher.) 

552. Almost without exception the boy is seen in sections; 
to no one agency nor to no one person is his entire inwardness 
ever revealed, not even to himself. But to the modern child guid-— 
ance clinic, the infant in arms of the social-educational world, is 
probably given to see the boy, even the “problem boy,” in as nearly 
one piece as is yet humanly possible. Technically trained, scien- 
tifically tempered, sympathetically understanding in point of view, 
quietly cautious in method of approach to the boy’s innermost 
secrets—the physician, the psychologist, the psychiatrist, the social 
worker—all co-operate to dissect the boys’ problems, to lay bare 
the primary causes of social infection, to suggest possible remedies 
and to enlist the active aid of the boy himself in the entire process. 
Here, if anywhere, the boy becomes an assembled whole; and the 
more completely we succeed in regarding him as a whole, rather 
than in sections, the sooner we may partially discover what he 
really is. (A research worker.) : 


II. THe CoMMUNITY 


1. In the first place, action in behalf of boys’ welfare must 
be community-wide. The temptations that boys must face are on 
the increase, and the ages at which boys must face these tempta- 
tions are steadily going down. Moreover, the standards of the 
various social institutions, such as the home and the motion pic- 
tures, are conflicting, and boys are forced to choose at an increas- 
ing earlier age between conflicting social standards. A community 
interest in boys’ welfare, and community-wide thinking, planning 
and acting, are necessary. 


Not only community thinking but as wide a community con- 
trol of conditions as possible is also advisable. Local communi- 
ties and neighborhoods are helpless in meeting the problems of 
boys. ‘The automobile brings in “bad boys” or takes boys into 
destructive environments. A boy lives in one neighborhood; he 
chums with a boy in another neighborhood, and the two go into a 
third locality, where some offense is committed. More and more 
a boy’s misbehavior occurs in local communities other than the 
one in which he lives. Hence, a city-wide control, based on a 
universal appreciation of boy nature and its problems under the 
diversified conditions of modern metropolitan life, is reasonable. 
Most important, the people of a city need to face and solve the prob- 
lems that city conditions are creating for boys (and girls) and 
their elders. If city people would think seriously on materials 


THE COMMUNITY 143 


such as herein presented, incomplete as they may be, and act, 
progress might be expected. 


2. ‘Co-operation and co-ordination of boys’ welfare agencies 
are highly desirable. These key organizations are functioning in 
the gaps where home control breaks down and where community 
control has not yet developed. Each has splendid opportunities, 
but is working more or less independently of the others. To 
the extent that the members of their staffs are not trained along 
social case work lines they do not appreciate the meaning of their 
work. To the extent that they are not co-ordinated, their effi- 
ciency in terms of the welfare of all the boys of the larger com- 
munity is low. A very important work lies ahead of organizations 
such as the Council for Promotion of Boys’ Work. 


3. The money of interested people is essential to the promo- 
tion of boys’ welfare, but more important than their money is their 
time and personal interest in the welfare of boys. “Tell the busi- 
ness men,” says one boys’ worker, “that the boy problem will 
never be solved until in addition to money, they give themselves.’ 
An hour a day for a business or professional man in being a pal to 
a boy, his own or some other, even though it takes an hour a day 
from private business, is far-sighted community business. ‘The 
greatest business in the world, after all, is that of raising boys 
and girls.” 


Personal service through social case work methods, for boys, 
by adults, would help boys make the necessary adjustments and 
save the city its army of disorganized persons with their anti- 
social attitudes. Adults would need training in the rudiments of 
“personal service through social case work methods,” but this is no 
more difficult to accomplish than any other important educational 
undertaking. 


4, Until adults’ standards are revised, boys’ standards will 
create trouble. “We are too much advertised in America,” says a 
well-known business man who is interested in boys. People’s 
attention, as a result, is being centered on wanting more and more 
things—for themselves. If the selfish spirit is being so fostered 
that even established institutions like the nation and the church 
are being endangered, how can boys escape? 


The adults’ standards of “speculating” and of “taking big 
risks” are being adopted by boys. The boy who steals a car is, as 
he says, “taking a risk,” and if the car be an expensive one, then 
the boy boasts, like the business man, of “taking a big risk.” The 
misbehavior of boys resembles in principle the conduct of adults, 
but is different in details of expression. 


The speed-jazz mania of the day is sweeping youth into its 
vortex. To get a bigger and bigger thrill out of life, and to drive 
high-powered cars in the company of low-moraled girls, wrecks 
youth. A race is on: Will civilization wreck youth before youth 


144 THE BOY-IN THE CITY 


wrecks civilization? The greater responsibility is upon civilization, 
that is, upon its adult members. 


5. Universal training for parenthood is forecasted. There is 
training for all kinds of work of lesser importance, but the larger 
opportunity is at present being ignored. Parental guidance is 
needed far more than child guidance. In the single item of sex 
education alone, parenthood scores very low, while in matters 
relating to behavior misunderstanding and adjustment the showing 
is also far from scientific or efficient. 


6. The “disorganization” and “gang” areas of the city require _ 
community action. The maps show distinctly where social disor- 
ganization is going on and that youth are victims. These districts 
are well marked out. The challenge offered by the districts which 
are producing centers of petty and grand larcenies, sex delin- 
quencies, “gang” destruction of property, and the creation of 
vicious attitudes on the part of boys, is perfectly clear. 


The leisure-time life of newsboys in the down-town business 
district and adjoining districts, which are among the most disturb- 
ing and socially disorganizing sections of any city, is in itself both 
discouraging and a challenge to all who are really interested in 
boys’ welfare. 


7. The need for a temporary home for boys stranded for a few 
~days has been described at some length in the preceding chapter. 
Boys sixteen years of age and older, who are going through a short 
period of readjustment, as explained in Chapter IX, are in need of 
temporary quarters in charge of a competent staff and equipped 
with both educational and work facilities. 


8. Multiplied recreational facilities in the industrial and poor 
housing sections would keep boys busy in organized ways and 
help to prevent them from becoming disorderly and delinquent. 
Swimming pools kept in use the year around and dotted over the 
poorer residence areas would be magnets for boys, drawing them 
out of trouble and into healthful exercise. The tide of rising land 
values, however, literally drowns out these possible developments. 
Boy values go down in the face of land values. 


Some public halls, some “movies” and prize fights, appeal to 
the lower levels of boy nature and create disorganization rather 
than organization of boy nature. Amusements run primarily for 
profits pay best when they appeal to the lower feelings, and hence 
as long as they are kept on a profit basis are hindered from being 
of community service. 


9. The recruiting of leaders for boys’ work in connection with 
each of the boys’ welfare agencies would solve a large prob- 
lem. ‘These leaders would need to be trained; and hence, training 
courses with substantial backgrounds are essential. The develop- 
ment of remunerative plans for leaders is in order, so that better 
and better trained and qualified persons may enter the field as a 
life vocation. 


THE COMMUNITY 145 


10. Some churches are still unappreciative of what a boys’ 
recreational program would do for them. Many pastors and 
preachers still think of church work in terms of preaching. Sun- 
day schools need a vision of the boy’s world of life and action and 
of the boy’s normal reactions to what many churches offer today. 
They should combine their religious and recreational programs 
so as to make them interdependent. More attention should be 
given to the youth and his problems through application of reli- 
gious principles to their solution. 


11. The Child Guidance Clinic idea, once built into the school 
system and supported by a staff of the ablest psychiatrists, psy- 
chologists, social case workers and sociologists, would stop a large 
percentage of delinquency at its sources. The school has the 
opportunity of making personality adjustments at an early age of 
children, which is doubtless equal in importance to the school’s tra- 
ditional function of “teaching subjects.” The school’s “behavior” 
problems and opportunities are probably as important as its teach- 
ing problems, and its function as a social service institution is 
equal perhaps to its educational function. 


12. A survey of the number and types of positions open to 
boys is urgently called for. What is the demand for different 
kinds of work for boys? For different levels and types of skill? 
For different races? What boys are available for each? What 
qualifications are important for each? 


Through an extensive development along scientific lines of 
the Placement and Employment Service of the Department of Part- 
time Instruction of the public schools, in co-operation with the 
Junior Division of the United States Employment Service (U. S. 
Department of Labor), adjustments of boys to occupation could 
approximate superior standards. 


13. A study of the girl and her problems naturally parallels 
this one concerning the boy. In fact, nearly one-third of such a 
survey has fallen within the scope of this Boys’ Work Survey. 
The remaining two-thirds is now awaiting to be done. 


14. Several intensive studies of local districts of the city 
would bring especially valuable results. One relates to the “gang 
areas” of Los Angeles; another, to the newsboys’ situation; an- 
other, to racial areas; others, to districts adjoining the city, such as 
the beach resorts. 


15. As large corporations establish research departments, so 
in any program for boys’ work a certain percentage, perhaps ten 
or more per cent of its funds, should be put into research to parallel 
the actual work. Whatever type of boys’ work is undertaken, it 
should be paralleled by some survey and research activities, 
because conditions are continually changing, and the welfare 
worker or workers need to be kept up-to-date by having the latest 
scientific materials continually available. As they go about their 
work, questions and problems will arise daily; they will not be 


146 PHBE OBO YY. UNAT Piste Lys 


able to take time to seek out the data, but will nevertheless need 
the data in order to make their work as highly efficient as possible. 


553. ‘The greatest business in the world, you may tell busi- 
ness men, is the business of raising the next generation. (A 
parent.) 


554. It’s not a question of preventing youths from wrecking 
our civilization, but one of preventing civilization from wrecking 
boys. (A parent.) 

555. The constantly growing freedom of youth does not in 
itself create any problem. The youth usually knows we are unpre- 
pared for this increased freedom and cannot cope with it. The 
problem is rather a reflection on us. (A research worker.) 


556. The big problem is the selfish spirit which exists in fam- 
ilies, in the community, and even elsewhere. It’s the same every- 
where. The dollar is bigger than the country or religion. (A 
business man.) 


557. Minors under twenty-one are prevented from making 
mistakes in contracts. A boy under twenty-one cannot marry 
without his parent’s or guardian’s consent, but in the matter of 
morals we don’t protect him so well as in the ALN of contracts, 
etc. (A parent?) 


558. It is a serious thing to be emphasizing a boy’s troubles 
all the time and hanging on to him labels such as “Runaway,” 
“Delinquent.” ‘These cause him to set up certain mental barriers 
and to try to live up to certain reputations. (A research worker.) 


559. The main troubles are lack of co-operation from parents, 
lack of adequate leadership, everybody being too busy, and there 
being too many organizations. Our moral attitude today is 
summed up in these words: broader but looser. (A parent.) 


560. It is difficult to make boys realize the seriousness of life; 
they want to have just a good time and assume as little responsi- 
bility as possible. ‘This is partly due to the increasing number of 
outside attractions which are crowding upon the boy’s attention. 
(A boys’ worker.) 


561. How can we curb their recklessness and how can we 
create respect for law in them? Recklessness and lack of respect 
for law are the accepted things among their elders. The adult’s 
idea seems to be, “What can I get away with?” (A business man.) 


562. If I were to make one wish for the work, it would be 
that more men would get a broader vision of the possibilities of 
working with boys, and that more laymen outside our organiza- 
tions might see the possibilities and volunteer as leaders. (A 
boys’ worker.) 


563. The problem of delinquency among Jewish boys in Los 
Angeles, which, fortunately, is yet relatively small, cannot be con- 
trolled by the Jewish community alone, but the first requisite for 


THE COMMUNITY 147 


effective work is to systematize and perfect that work which is 
being done under Jewish auspices. (A boys’ worker.) 


564. Our boys have that same care-free, irresponsible attitude 
that seems to have seized all America, and everyone is just after a 
good time. They do not seem to be able to accept any responsi- 
bility, but are just looking for a good time. Commercialism is 
found everywhere. (A business man.) 


965. I feel sorry for the kids of today. There are more temp- 
tations put up to them than we dream of, and at such a young 
age; generally they have to meet the temptations all alone, too. It 
is hard to go straight. My wonder is not that some go bad, but 
that more do not get that way. There are invitations to go bad 
everywhere, and not much to help them go straight. (A boys’ 
worker.) 


566. There is a wonderful picture of Lord Roberts when 
he was engaged in military work in Pretoria, South Africa. He is 
holding a boy on his knees, and a messenger in uniform is coming 
up with a message, but Lord Roberts waves him aside and says, 
“Don't you see I’m busy?” A conference with the boy at the 
right time is more important than winning or losing a battle. 
What shall it profit a nation to gain the whole world and lose its 
boys’. (A parent.) 

567. The type of neighborhood enters into the problem of 
truancy in a position of probably secondary importance. Where 
the moral stamina of the child is weak, the call of attractions, such 
as movies, cheap dance halls, etc., is too great to be denied. In 
communities where the children must go by these places on the 
way to and from school, temptation is hard to resist. 


568. We all are the product of the stimuli that we have come 
in contact with. I try in my small way to change this stimuli by 
my personal contact with the boy and by trying to educate the 
community to the needs of their life. I am trying to develop a 
community consciousness; everywhere I go, I speak of the needs 
for directed activities for boys. (A boys’ worker.) 


569. Whenever rent is high we find people living in apart- 
ment houses and flats where it is impossible to raise children. 
Then generally with these high rents comes high cost of living, 
and the result is that there are no children, and the marriage results 
in divorce. I think the best place for children to be raised is on 
the farm for about twelve or fifteen years, like I was. Cities are 
poor places to raise families. (A parent.) 


570. I have seventeen boys in a group who put on a program 
which was advertised to their parents extensively, but only two 
had parents present at the meeting or who would help much. I 
can’t get the boys to change their ways, because they say that their 
parents are doing the things that I object to on the part of the 
boys. They won’t quit smoking cigarettes, because their fathers 
smoke; don’t want to go to church, because their parents don’t go; 


148 THE BOY IN THE CLEY 


won't do any other worth while thing, because parents aren’t inter- 
ested. (A boys’ worker.) 


571. In this city there is an ordinance saying that no boy 
under sixteen may have possession of an airgun within the city 
limits. But the posters and store windows display and advertise 
them—the boys see them, read thrilling stories and see thrilling 
movies, and naturally want a gun. Then they want to use it, and 
since their neighborhood is within the city limits, they must be 
arrested and filed on, and, of course, get a court record. (A police 
worker. ) 


572. Well, I tell you, the thing which I noticed jartiod een 
about our people, both the parents and the youth, is their urgent 
strife for a good time. They are a jazzy, nervous lot. They look 
for stimuli all the time. I think it is chiefly due to the “machine 
age.” The thing which has astonished me about the young people 
is absolute lack of seriousness, concentration, and their fast physi- 
cal pace. At the confirmation services I simply could not keep 
those youngsters coming up quietly on the platform. Their run- 
ning simply could not be restrained. This rapid pace is exhibited 
in all their activities. (A church leader.) 


573. When I was young, we were in bed by 9:30, but now 
young people sometimes do not go out until 10 p. m. Then we 
drove at six miles an hour, and now at thirty miles an hour they go. 
We, however, were not so crazy to stay at home as you might 
imagine, but did so because there was nothing else to do. Today, 
boys are more in need of help than formerly, because they are 
being thrown at an earlier age into a more and more bewildering 
and more and more rapidly changing environment. (A parent.) 


574. Lots of boys like to be considered tough. Many of 
them had to go to Sunday school, and the old-fashioned teacher 
did not make it interesting. By and by the boy hates to go, 
because he has not been approached right. Then, when he gets 
the chance, he does not want to be a sissy, but a regular he-guy, 
and he secretly delights in doing things that his teacher told him 
were so terrible, inwardly rejoicing when he does something he 
knows would horrify her. But when he does these things, if his 
home training has been right, his conscience hurts him, and when 
he sees the consequences he will generally turn back, but fre- 
quently there is no one who can or will tell him and at the same 
time get the kid to understand the elders’ motive. But in the long 
run the kid with the right home back of him will come back. (A 
boys’ worker.) 


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